


Banana Pancakes

by thisjourneysend



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I wrote this instead of studying, Kara is bi and everyone knows it, Neighbour AU, Pre-Season 1, lena and winn are nerd friends it's cute, lena doesn't know how to make pancakes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-17 14:57:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9330353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisjourneysend/pseuds/thisjourneysend
Summary: All the great things that happen in life begin with a small thing, an interview, a favour, or a smile. In Kara's case, it's a question from her new neighbour.or the neighbour au where Lena doesn't know how to make pancakesBased off of a Tumblr post.





	1. Pancakes

**Author's Note:**

> So this is based off of a tumblr post a friend sent me (http://actionables.tumblr.com/post/132472358529/too-hilarious-actionables-actionables)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara teaches Lena how not to make pancakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is based off of a tumblr post a friend sent me (http://actionables.tumblr.com/post/132472358529/too-hilarious-actionables-actionables)

Kara first spots her when she’s moving in to the building. The blonde is on her way back from a long and gruelling day at CatCo. Cat had been particularly demanding today and the only thing Kara really really wants is a long hot shower and two, no three, orders of pot stickers. She’s nearly at the front door of her building when the sun catches on beautiful black hair and shines in Kara’s eyes. She looks towards the beautiful girl with boxes in her arms, Kara almost melts right then and there. The blonde hasn’t noticed that she’s staring at the mysterious stranger until she says something. “Sorry, can I help you with something?” 

Kara finally comes to her senses and shakes her head. “S-sorry, I just, uhm, I live here too and you seem to be moving in…and, er, do you want some help? With your, your boxes?” Kara mentally berates herself for the awkward way she stumbled through that sentence. _Thank Rao Alex wasn’t here to see that_ , Kara thinks. The stranger seems to find her awkward words amusing, she gives Kara a shining smile and sets the box she currently has in her arms down.

“I could use some help, actually, but first,” the woman takes a step towards her and the blonde wonders if her heart is beating loud enough for the entire planet to hear. “Why don’t you tell me your name?”

“M-my, my name?” Kara isn’t sure she's heard the words correctly, but when the woman begins smiling again Kara snaps back from her daze. “Oh! My name, right, uhm,” she forces a laugh and shakes her head. “I’m Kara, Kara Danvers.” The blonde reaches her hand out towards the woman who follows suit.

“Lena,” she responds, grasping Kara’s hand and giving it a firm shake. Kara gives a shaky smile and they remain that way for a few moments; simply holding each other’s hand and smiling. It feels like a full minute before Lena laughs and pulls away. “Now about that help you promised.” She tilts her head towards the boxes and Kara lamely nods. She rushes over to the numerous boxes on the curb and easily lifts two. It’s not until she sees Lena’s face that she realizes these may be heavy. “Those are both full of textbooks,” the black haired woman says. Kara looks down at the boxes in her arms and shrugs her shoulders.

“I, uhm, go to the gym…frequently.” It’s a horrible response, but Lena seems to believe it as she shrugs and begins to walk into the building. Kara barely notices where they’re going until they’re standing outside of the apartment next to hers. “Are you moving in next door?” Kara speaks before thinking. “I mean that I live in the next apartment down.” Lena turns as she enters into the apartment and grins.

“I guess that means we’re neighbours, Kara Danvers.” Kara can feel her face heating up as she enters Lena’s apartment, and it’s not from carrying the boxes. 

“You know, Lena,” Kara says setting the boxes down in the living room. “I never caught your last name.” The blonde aims for cheeky and fears she may have failed when Lena just gives her a tightlipped smile.

“That’s because I never threw it, Kara.” With that she walks passed and Kara lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

After another hour of pretending boxes are heavy as she carries them up the stairs and Lena’s apartment is littered with boxes. The two girls share an awkward moment, both unsure of what to do with themselves. Lena finally smiles and clears her throat. “Thank you for all your help, Kara, but I should start unpacking.” She gestures awkwardly over her shoulder and Kara nods. 

“Right, cool, okay, uhm if you need anything I’m right,” Kara gestures awkwardly in the direction of her apartment and smiles, “there,” she finishes lamely. Lena laughs and nods her head. Kara begins walking towards the door and turns back just before she crosses the threshold. “Have a good night, Lena. I’ll see you around.”

Kara gets to her apartment and closes the door, sighing heavily. The girl next door was unbelievably gorgeous and, as usual, Kara was an awkward mess. She just hoped Lena was as charmed by it as she seemed.

~~~ 

Two weeks later and Kara has barely seen Lena With-No-Last-Name. She saw her once, briefly, a few days after she moved in. Kara was coming home from CatCo, Lena had been walking into the building, hair hanging just passed her shoulders, skin tight dress, killer heels…Kara had almost walked straight into a lamp post. That doesn’t mean that Kara doesn’t accidentally hear Lena sometimes, the apartment next door had been empty for so long that her super hearing now seemed keen to pick up on the brunette’s movements. Mostly it’s just shouted curse words in the morning when Lena walks into things, the brunette is not a morning person, but sometimes Kara hears her talking into the phone softly or thinking out loud.

Tonight there is radio silence from the other side of the wall and Kara assumes Lena must be out. The blonde busies herself preparing for an emergency movie night with Alex and the knock on the door shocks her. Alex never knocks she has her own key. Kara slowly slides down her glasses and looks through to the other side of the door. There stands Lena, fiddling with her hands adorably. Kara makes it to her door a bit faster than humanly possible and opens it gently. “Lena, hey, what’s up?” 

The raven haired girl shoots Kara a brilliant smile. She looks a lot more relaxed than when Kara saw her the other day. She stands there in snug jeans and an old MIT t-shirt. Kara realizes as Lena looks her up and down that the other girl is still dressed up compared to her. Kara is standing in red and green plaid pyjama pants, an oversized fading Superman t-shirt with a hole near the collar, and pink fuzzy socks. Lena straightens and Kara leans against her door. “I was just wondering if…I could borrow a cup of sugar.” Kara immediately straightens and grins. 

“Yeah, of course.” She opens the door and gestures for Lena to enter her apartment. “Come on in, are you baking something?”

“Yes, uhm, a pie,” Kara notes that Lena doesn’t sound entirely too sure about that, but continues anyway. The blonde goes straight to her kitchen and Lena follows before stopping awkwardly by the island. 

“I _love_ pie, well I love all food, but pie is one of my favourites, especially if it’s chocolate pecan.” Kara reaches up into the cupboards and grabs a bag of sugar. “You could take the bag if you wanted, bring it back when you’re done?” Kara turns toward the other woman who has definitely zoned out. “Uhm, Lena?” The alertness returns back to her green eyes as she makes eye contact with Kara.

“Sorry, yeah, that would be great.” Lena responds. Kara carries the bag over to her and hands it over with a smile, one Lena happily returns. The two stand there like that, making eye contact and smiling at each other, until Alex bangs into the room.

“Hey, sorry I’m late I was just at the—,” the older Danvers finally realizes what she’s walked into as both Kara and Lena break their gaze. “I see you’ve found a friend to help keep you busy.” The brunette grins. Kara can tell that Lena immediately becomes uncomfortable. 

“Sorry, I didn’t know you had plans. I’ll just go, I’ve got a pie to make after all.” Kara watches as Lena mutters a quick goodbye and rushes out the door, giving Alex a tight smile as she passes by. 

“So who was that?” Alex begins, kicking off her shoes and walking over to the couch to get comfy. Kara rolls her eyes and follows, after all the food is over there. 

“Lena, she just moved in next door,” Kara begins. 

“Oh so that’s your cute new neighbour?” Kara looks at her sister and just nods.

“Yeah, she uhm, moved in like two weeks ago, haven’t really seen much of her until tonight.” Kara smiles fondly, looking towards her door. She doesn’t redirect her attention until the older Danvers clears her throat. When the blonde turns towards her sister she’s shocked that she didn’t _feel_ Alex staring at her. The brunette’s gaze is so focused it looks as if she’s analyzing the DNA in Kara’s skin cells. “Alex? What—do I have something on my face?” She asks in horror. When Alex just keeps staring Kara stands and begins to rush to the bathroom mirror. “Has it been there the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me? Oh my god,” she halts midway to the bathroom. “Do you think Lena saw?” At this Alex bursts out laughing. Kara just stares at her. 

“Kara sit down, you don’t have anything on your face,” the blonde can feel herself begin to breathe again and moves back to the couch to sit down. “You do, however, have a crush on your neighbour.” The air once again leaves Kara’s lungs.

“N-no, definitely not! I mean sure she’s pretty and she smells nice and her hair is really great and she’s charming and kind and smart. But I’ve only talked to her like twice,” Kara says, scoffing and laughing it off. Alex, of course, sees through her.

“You’ve got a crush on your neighbour who, by the way, is not cute she’s ridiculously hot.” Kara realizes her sister is teasing her and can’t help rolling her eyes. 

“Alex, I do not!” The blonde feels her cheeks heating up and looks down at her toes. 

“Oh my god! Kara, you’re blushing you so do!” The older Danvers laughs at her expense and Kara unceremoniously throws herself back into the couch cushions and smacks her sister’s arm. Alex flinches in pain and rubs at her arm, but she doesn’t stop laughing.

“Shut up and put the movie on,” Kara says with a pout on her face, knowing that she’ll never hear the end of it. 

~~~

Four days later and Kara finally has a day off. She pulls herself out of bed at ten and moves into the kitchen. Kara hates mornings because she’s always starving but things take time to cook. Today Kara is seriously debating just eating an entire box of cereal. She’s sure she has a mixing bowl large enough to fit an entire box, Kara begins to look for said bowl in her cupboards when a knock is at her door. The blonde is startled and loses her balance. Kara rubs her forehead where it connected with the floor. The knocking continues and Kara scrambles to get up on her feet to get to the door. The person has been there for a while now and the blonde rushes to answer it before they leave. Kara stumbles into and opens the door rather quickly and without checking who’s behind it. 

“I’m sorry I took so long, I..fell down,” Kara waves her hand in the air. The laugh sounds out quickly and Kara automatically realizes who it is. “Lena, hey, come in!” She opens the door wider and Lena walks in. “What’s up?”

Lena turns around and grins at Kara. “I’m so sorry to bother you again, Kara, but I was wondering if I could borrow an egg?” Kara laughs lightly and nods.

“Of course, are you baking again?” Kara asks, opening the fridge and rooting around for the eggs she knows she bought last weekend. 

“No, actually I’m making pancakes.” Kara stands to tell Lena that she loves pancakes, but she’s still in the fridge so instead she just hits her head on the top of the fridge. “Are you alright?” The blonde’s face heats up despite the cold temperature surrounding her.

“Yeah, just ridiculously clumsy.” Kara locates the eggs and proclaims a very lame ‘aha!’ “Here you are,” she holds two eggs in her hand, careful not to break them, towards Lena. 

“Thanks,” they walk towards the door slowly and Lena abruptly turns toward the blonde. “Kara, would you happen to know how to make pancakes?” Kara notes that this is the first time since they’ve met that Lena has seemed shy. Kara grins brightly, attempting to reassure the other girl. She looks Lena over and makes an abrupt decision.

“Yeah, why don’t you stay and I can show you how to make them?” The two lock eyes for a moment and Kara thinks she may have made a mistake and then the brunette nods. 

“Yeah, yeah that sounds great.” 

~~~

Twenty minutes later and Lena has figured out her secret. “You don’t know how to make pancakes either, do you?” They’ve got four black pancakes sitting on a plate and Kara lets out a shy laugh. It’s not that she doesn’t know how to make pancakes, she gets the general gist of it, but with Lena there she sort of got a bit flustered.

“No, I don’t usually make them, Alex does.” Kara smiles rubbing the back of her neck.

“And Alex is?” Lena asks. Kara turns to the raven haired girl and grins.

“My sister, she was the one who was here the other day,” Kara sees Lena visibly exhale and grin. 

“Your sister,” the blonde just nods. Lena nods and looks at the kitchen. As she turns her head Kara notices a streak of pancake batter on her cheek. “Kara, your kitchen is a mess.” They both laugh and Kara reaches for a napkin.

“So are you, Lena,” the raven haired girl gives her a curious look and she laughs. She shows Lena the napkin and grins, “here let me.” Kara brushes Lena’s hair behind her ear and wipes the napkin along her cheek. She feels the other girl’s face heating up and the blonde, in turn, blushes. 

“Thanks, Kara,” Lena whispers softly. Kara has definitely crossed into Lena’s personal space, the air is filled with tension a moment that is broken by the blonde’s stomach growling loudly. Lena laughs and gestures to the plate of burned pancakes. “I’d suggest the pancakes, but I’m not sure you wanna eat those.” Kara nods and laughs. 

“There is this little diner a block from here, they make the best banana pancakes in the universe. We could go, if you’re not busy.” Kara has never been good at keeping her emotions hidden and her voice is dripping with hope.

“Yeah, I would love to.” Lena is grinning and the alien can’t help but match it as she straightens excitedly. “You may want to change first though, Kara. Not that the sushi pyjamas aren’t adorable.” Kara looks down at her pj’s and nods her head, uttering a faint right before going to change. 

~~~

When they get to the diner it’s relatively empty and they select a small booth by the window. The waitress is there quickly and takes their order, two stacks of banana pancakes, and then they’re left on their own. It awkward and quiet for a brief moment. Kara looks around the restaurant before Lena clears her throat. “So, Kara, where are you from?” And then Kara starts talking, telling Lena stories of her upbringing with Alex and their many, many adventures. By the time their food comes Lena knows a great deal about Kara and her past, yet Kara knows very little about her companion.

“What about you, Lena? Where did you grow up?” The air thickens and Lena gives Kara a courteous smile. 

“Metropolis, but I was in boarding school more often than I was there,” she shrugs. “Not very interesting I suppose.” Kara can tell that there’s more there, just below the surface, but decides now may not be the best time to prod.

“Wanna hear about the time I got Chipotle for Cat Grant’s lunch?” The brunette’s soft laughter is all the answer Kara needs.

~~~

They’re walking down the hallway to their apartments after their meal when Kara realizes something. “You know, Lena, I still don’t know your last name.” The woman grins at her and shrugs.

“I like to keep an air of mystery,” she says, quirking an eyebrow at the blonde. Kara rolls her eyes, unable to stop a smile from blossoming on her face at the comment. They finally come to a stop just outside of Lena’s door.

“Fine, but if you won’t tell me your name will you at least tell me your number?” Kara thinks that is what Alex would call smooth. Lena looks Kara over for a moment before she nods her head and reaches out her hand.

“Give me your phone,” the alien does so at a rapid speed. Lena hands it back a moment later with a smile. “I even took the liberty to send myself a message so now you have to talk to me.” Kara laughs and nods.

“I definitely will,” the blonde grins. Lena unlocks her door and steps inside. “See you later, Lena.” The woman gives her a simple goodbye and a bright smile before closing the door to her apartment. Kara practically skips to her front door and just as she reaches for the handle, it opens on it’s own.

“Kara, where have you been?” Alex is standing in front of her, arms crossed. Kara just smiles and walks into her apartment. 

“Out with Lena,” she responds depositing her keys on the side table.

“And why is your kitchen in such a state of disarray?” The older Danvers closes the door and watches as Kara remembers the disaster zone a few feet away from her.

“Oh uhm, Lena didn’t know how to make pancakes, so I offered to help and then this happened so we just went to that diner on fifth.” Kara rubs her forehead as she takes in her kitchen, Alex just laughs and shakes her head.

“Right, so you taught Lena how _not_ to make pancakes, is there anything else she now knows?” Kara turns on her heels and gives Alex a cheeky smile.

“My number,” the blonde alien then rushes into the kitchen to start cleaning and if it weren’t for her super hearing she might have missed Alex’s mumbled ‘go, Kara’.


	2. Casablanca

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena watch a movie and Alex and Lena officially meet and then Kara puts her foot in her mouth, literally or figuratively you ask? read on and find out

They’ve been texting non stop for over a month when Lena first invites her over. 

_Hey, I accidentally ordered way too much Chinese food, help me finish it?_

They usually hung out at Kara’s apartment or they go to the diner, so when the invite is sent Kara moves superhumanly quick. She knocks on the door, praying to Rao that there are potstickers. When the other woman opens the door Kara just grins.

“Hey stranger,” Lena rolls her eyes and opens the door. Kara walks passed her and stands just inside the door.

“I really hope you’re hungry, I think the guy thought I asked for three orders of everything.” Lena’s smiling even though Kara thinks she’d be a little annoyed considering what the cost must have been. Still, the blonde nods enthusiastically.

“I’m literally always hungry,” she responds and it definitely isn’t a lie. “Winn, my friend at work, always says that the only time he's ever seen me grumpy is when I’ve been without food for longer than twenty minutes.”

“Perfect, the food is this way,” the raven haired woman starts walking over to the island and Kara follows making sure to take in everything she sees. Lena’s apartment is exactly how she’d imagined it would be. It’s all very sleek and high end, but there’s still a very warm feeling. Everything is set in very neutral subtle tones and there are very few obvious personal touches, only a picture or two from when Lena was in college lay about, but Kara also notices the more subtle aspects of Lena bleeding through. Like the peonies on the coffee table, Lena had mentioned yesterday that they were her favourite, and the little trinkets on her bookshelf, she collects one thing from every place she’s ever been. It’s simple and subtle and Kara can't help but love it. 

The aroma of the food draws her over to the island and she scans the array of food and grins when she finds what she was looking for. “Oh my god, potstickers,” the blonde immediately reaches for the plate Lena hands her. The woman laughs lightly.

“Yeah, your favourite right?” Kara is nodding happily again and when her stomach lets out a small growl Lena laughs. “Help yourself,” and both women happily start piling food on their plates. They talk over their meal and keep talking long after it’s gone. They discuss everything from music to books to television. Kara learns more and more about Lena and she doesn’t want to stop.

“Oh my god, Kara, how can you never have seen _Casablanca_?” The blonde watches the other woman, eyes wide jaw just slightly open, stare at her. The blonde laughs before shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

“I don’t know, I just don’t watch a lot of classical films I guess,” Kara had seen all sorts of people in her day. She had seen humanoid aliens, aliens with bright blue skin, aliens with their eyes literally outside of their head, but the latter couldn’t even hold a candle to Lena at the moment. Eyes bugged out and staring at Kara she opens and closes her mouth and few times before taking a breath and shaking her head. 

“Kara, Kara, Kara,” the blonde thinks that no one has ever said her name better than Lena did just then. “Classical movies are the foundation for literally all of cinema. And Casablanca is one of the bests! I mean, aside from the fact that it was made under the OWI act and is technically a form of propaganda.” Lena watches Kara for a moment before she stands and the blonde feels her grab her wrist and pull her up too. “Come on,” the brunette says. 

Kara, who considers herself to be relatively good with words in any given situation, manages a very shocked and high pitched “huh?” Lena leads her over to the couch, ushers her to sit down and then walks over to her bookshelf.

“You don’t have any other plans for tonight, right?” Kara furrows her brow and shakes her head. 

“Lena it’s twelve a.m. where on Earth would I be going?” This just earns her a brilliant smile from the other woman and it stirs up something in her stomach making her face heat up.

“Good, then you’re getting a proper movie education.” Lena pops a dvd into the player and turns on her TV before sitting down next to Kara on the couch. She notes that Lena can’t stop smiling. “Trust me, this movie will change you.” As the opening credits begin to roll Kara already knows she’s going to love the film. Halfway through Lena lays against the opposite side of the couch. She’s half curled up and looks uncomfortable. Kara realizes that it’s because the woman is trying to leave her enough space. So the blonde reaches down and pulls Lena’s feet into her lap. The two share a warm smile before a loud noise on the screen pulls them back into the action of the film.

It’s nearing two a.m. when the end credits roll. Kara sits there, staring at the screen. When she turns to tell Lena what she thinks, she finds the woman sleeping. Her pitch black hair has fallen down in front of her face and one cheek has been smushed against the couch cushion. Kara thinks she’s absolutely adorable. Gently, she removes herself from the couch and searches for a blanket. Finally finding one draped over a chair she covers Lena with it and smiles. She looks so peaceful, Kara stands there a moment more before she realizes that this is actually quite creepy. The alien hurries to find a pen and paper and hastily scribbles a note, leaving it on the coffee table for Lena to find.

_Loved the movie, but I still don’t think it’s as good as the true cinematic masterpiece that is Toy Story._

_Sweet dreams Lena,_

_Kara_

~~~~

Kara gets a message as she’s waiting for Cat to arrive the next morning. 

_How you can even compare Casablanca and Toy Story is a mystery to me, Kara Danvers._

The blonde laughs and immediately responds.

_I’m a mysterious woman, didn’t you know?_

Kara is so focused on waiting for Lena’s response that her super hearing doesn’t pick up on Cat’s private elevator moving. 

_Please, Kara, you are literally more open than an open book._

On any other day Kara would have heard Cat right behind her, on any other day she would have met her at the elevator, latte in hand, on any other day Lena didn’t text her until lunch. “You know, Keira, I don’t pay you to sit around and text what little friends you have.” The alien immediately jumps up from her chair _._

“Miss Grant, I—,” she begins gesturing vaguely in the direction of her phone and the latte.

“I don’t care, Keira, just get all of the department heads in my office in ten minutes and make sure you’re ready to take notes.” Cat drawls out, Kara nods quickly.

“Of course, Miss Grant,” but Cat doesn’t move from her spot. She just stands there in front of Kara expectantly and the blonde gulps. “Is there anything else you need, Miss Grant?”

“My latte, Keira,” the younger woman scrambles to grab the coffee on the desk behind her.

“Right sorry, Miss Grant.”

“My office, ten minutes.” With that Kara takes a very deep breath and sets off to begin her day. 

~~~

She forgets to respond to Lena until she’s coming home from work and sees the woman walking in to the building. “Lena,” the blonde speeds up when the woman waves at her. She rushes up the front steps and grins. “Hey, I totally meant to text you back earlier, but Miss Grant arrived and I didn’t even notice and her latte was cold and her lettuce wrap was too warm and,” Kara takes a deep breath and shakes her head as they step in the elevator. “And I’ll have you know I’m not that open, I have secrets!” Lena just laughs at her and shakes her head.

“That’ll be the day, Kara.” The blonde huffs out a sigh, because she _can_ keep secrets. Okay she can keep _a_ secret, but it’s a really, really big one.

“You sound just like Alex. Anyway, how was your day?” Kara gives the woman a smile, but Lena merely lowers her sunglasses in return. When her piecing green eyes look right at Kara as if she could see her soul, she’s expecting her to say much different words than what Lena actually says.

“I was pretty shaken up considering a certain someone told me they thought Toy Story was better than Casablanca,” the brunette exits the elevator then and Kara stands there for a moment, stunned before the doors start to close and she has to run in between them.

“Hey, Toy Story is genius, just the right amount of everything.” Kara says, Lena is halfway to her door and shakes her head. 

“Well, we’ll have to watch it sometime.” Kara snorts.

“So you can fall asleep again?” The blonde laughs when Lena rolls her eyes.

“No, Kara, because I haven’t seen it.” Kara’s jaw drops to the ground. This is absolutely unfathomable to the blonde, Toy Story was a pillar of her childhood.

“What? How can you not have seen Toy Story?!” The blonde exclaims. Lena quickly turns around and crosses her arms.

“You had never seen Casablanca,” she throws back. 

Kara shakes her head. “That’s not the same, Casablanca was made what, like twenty, thirty years before I was born? Toy Story is a Disney classic.” Then it occurs to Kara, “wait, you’ve been shaken up all day because I think Toy Story is better, but _you’ve_ never seen it?” Lena stares at her for a moment before nodding. 

“Well, yeah,” she answers. 

“Alright, we’re watching it,” Kara says, taking Lena’s hand and walking towards her apartment. “Right now and hopefully you’ll stay awake.” Kara’s still walking, but she feels Lena halt so she turns around.

“I can’t tonight, I have a—work thing,” Lena gestures vaguely over her shoulder and tries not to feel too disappointed. She forces herself to nod and give her a sweet smile.

“Oh, no I totally should have asked,” she pauses. Lena starts to say something, but Kara doesn’t let her. “But you’re not getting off the hook that easily, we will watch this movie.” Lena smiles happily back at her.

“Deal,” and with that Kara goes to her apartment alone. She reminds herself that everybody has work things to do, but the way Lena said it is what Kara keeps thinking about. Almost as if she wasn’t entirely sure that’s where she was going. The thought hits Kara in the side of the head like a ton of bricks, _what if Lena is going on a date?_ But why wouldn’t Lena just tell Kara that? Why would she lie about it? And why does Kara care so much? The blonde has no intention of figuring this out on her own so she does what any woman would do. She calls her sister.

Before the brunette even has the time to say ‘hello’ Kara is speaking. “I think Lena’s going on a date tonight and she lied to me about it and said it was ‘a work thing’,” she makes air quotes around the words even though Alex can’t see her. “And I don’t know why she wouldn’t just tell me the truth, I thought we were friends, good friends! And why does it bother me so much? Oh right, because she lied to me, her friend.” Kara finally inhales amazed that she was able to fit all of that in one breath.

“Okay Kara, slow down,” Alex says and Kara begins to take deep breaths. “Stop walking a whole in the floor,” the blonde hadn’t even noticed she’d been pacing in front of her kitchen island but she stops and walks over to her couch and sits down. “Good, now, are you sure Lena is lying to you?” Kara pauses and nods her head.

“Yeah, she sounded weird when she said it. Very Un-Lena.” The alien anxiously begins shaking her leg so fast that a soft vibrating noise can be heard.

“Kara, chill, are you sure you didn’t just catch her off guard?” Alex can tell the moment the youngest Danvers realizes she may be mistaken.

“Perhaps, slightly,” she admits, leg slowing substantially.

“So she might not have a date?” Kara looks down at her right hand which has absentmindedly started fiddling with her cardigan.

“Well, no, I guess not.”

“Okay, so maybe breathe. If she’s lying I’m sure she’ll tell you the truth eventually. It’s not like she would hide a significant other from you.” Kara sighs and dramatically throws herself back into the couch cushions.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Kara mumbles into the receiver. She can physically hear Alex’s eye roll on the other end.

“I am definitely right. Now, back to why it bothers you.” Alex pauses for a moment and Kara worries about what she’ll say. “You do realize you have a gigantic crush on her that could likely be seen from outer space?” The blonde was not expecting that. 

“Wh—what?” She splutters. “Alex I so do not! She’s just my friend. We are _friends_ okay? That’s it.”

“You’re blushing right now, aren’t you?” Kara is decidedly ignoring the way her face has been heating up and mumbles out a gruff ‘no’ into the phone. “Yes, you are, you know how I know that? You blush every time you talk about her, or too her quite frankly, and you talk about her constantly. You’re in deep, my friend.” Kara hesitates on her rebuttal for a moment. Sure her friend was gorgeous and wonderful and kind and smart and all of the things Kara looked for in a person. But it was _Lena_ , she was her friend and besides Alex and Winn and a few others at the office Kara didn’t really have many of those. Sure she got along with, well everyone, but she rarely saw anyone aside from Winn or Alex when she wasn’t at work. Now she had Lena and it was different somehow. It wasn’t like the way it was with Alex who was always protecting her, or Winn who was always ready with a corny joke. She was Lena. Kara couldn’t have a crush on her, she just couldn’t. Besides, she didn’t even know if Lena was into girls. 

Suddenly a growling noise sounds out through the phone. It’s loud and a crash immediately follows it. Kara is immediately concerned.“Alex, are you okay? What was that?” She leans forward on the couch cushions and waits for the reply.

“Kara, I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” 

“Alex, _Alex_?!” But her sister had already hung up. She sent her a message immediately. _Call me later and let me know if everything’s okay._ Kara then rubs her hand over her tired eyes and tosses her glasses to the side. She decides not to think about what Alex said because she doesn’t have a crush on Lena. She just doesn’t.  

But hours later when her phone lights up with a message from Lena herself, she can’t stop the grin from spreading across her face or the butterflies filling her stomach.

_I don’t know why I have to go to these they’re so boring. I can’t believe I’m actually about to say this, but I’d rather be watching the atrocity that you think is better than Casablanca._

It takes her moments to respond.

_You’ll be singing a different tune once you actually watch it, I swear!!!_

The next message finds the butterflies invading her throat (and heart but she’s definitely ignoring that).

_Oh, no Kara. You’re the only one who will be singing anything in this relationship._

~~~

Kara rests her feet against her coffee table phone in hand as she stares at the screen. The ellipses constantly moving back and forth cause a knot to form in the pit of her stomach. It feels like five minutes have passes but really it’s only been 30 seconds of typing and typing and typing. _Rao, is she writing a novel?_ Kara thinks. She nervously taps her fingers against the screen, careful not to accidentally hit any letters. It had been a simple dinner invite, one they’d exchanged a million times, but Lena was taking much, much longer to respond this time. It’s when she finally gives up on waiting and tosses her phone on the couch that the screen lights up signalling that Lena has finally texted her back. She rushes to pick up the phone, nearly dropping it in the process, to finally read the response.

_I don’t know, are you going to burn everything like last time?_

Kara laughs and quickly goes to respond.

_I was actually thinking about ordering in, but if you wanted I’m sure I could burn something especially for you!_

She hesitates for a moment and then adds two laughing emojis before hitting send. Lena’s next reply is almost instant. 

_Ha ha, very funny. I’ll be over in an hour._

Kara finds she spends quite a bit of time with Lena. Aside from her regularly scheduled movie nights with Alex and the nights Lena has “work stuff” and, of course, work itself they spend their free time together. Yet, she still doesn’t know Lena’s last name, or anything about her past really. Kara has discovered that family is a sore topic for Lena and that’s something Kara understands, she rarely speaks of Krypton or her parents or her aunt, every memory is tainted with soot and ash and fire. So she understands that Lena doesn’t want to talk about her life before, she gets it, she does. That doesn’t mean that Kara isn’t burning with questions she wants answered. She wants to know Lena, wants to know everything about her. Kara feels like they’re getting closer though and that Lena is on the brink of telling her everything. So the alien uses all of her considerable might to just be patient. It’s getting harder by the second.

Kara’s thoughts are interrupted by her door being opened. She turns so quickly that loses her balance for a moment and has to grab on to the back of the couch. From the angle she's at, half laying back and half sitting up, she can’t see who just walked through the door. The blonde knows it’s not Lena, there’s no way the girl could have gotten here so quickly and she’s not expecting anyone else.

“Dude, be careful or you’ll face plant and break the coffee table.” _Alex_. Of course it’s Alex, but for the life of her Kara doesn’t know what prompted her sister’s spontaneous visit.

“Alex! Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what’re you doing here?” Kara pulls herself up and smiles at the older Danvers, who just looks incredulously at her. 

“Kara, it’s movie night, where else would I be?” Kara shakes her head. Today is Monday and movie night was always on Tuesdays. 

“No, today is Monday. Are you feeling okay, Alex?” The brunette raises an eyebrow and nods. 

“Oh, I’m feeling just peachy. You, Kara, must be ill.” The alien rolls her eyes and scoffs.

“That’s impossible and you know it. Just like it’s impossible that today is Tuesday.” 

“No, it definitely is Tuesday,” Alex says, tossing her jacket on the island and walking to Kara’s fridge where a takeout menu for every single place imaginable sits. 

“No, it’s Monday. Miss Grant meets with her therapist every Monday, unless…” Kara cuts herself off and her eyes widen.

“Unless?” Alex calls from the kitchen. 

“It’s the second Tuesday of the month,” Kara covers her face with her hands and Alex hollers triumphantly from the kitchen.

“Knew today was Tuesday, I’m thinking Indian,” Kara removes her hands to see her sister with two menus in her hands. “Or Italian.”

“Okay first of all, both; second of all, did you just refer to pizza as Italian; and third, I invited Lena over tonight.” Kara looks over at her sister who’s still looking between the two menus. Alex just stands there nodding.

“Okay, a) I’m not sure how good will Indian taste with my beer though; two, I’m trying to make it sound more cultural; and lastly, so? Lena is more than welcome to come. In fact, I’d love to meet your new ‘friend.’” Kara tries to glare, but can’t help laughing when Alex uses the take-out menus to make the air quotes. 

“Promise you won’t be weird?” She asks Alex hesitantly. The older Danvers has really latched on to this idea that Kara has a crush on Lena (which she does not) and the blonde doesn’t want Alex to enter into big sister mode and analyze every single move made. 

“You calling me weird?” Kara raises her eyebrows and looks pointedly at the two takeout menus Alex is still using to help her gesture. The brunette rolls her eyes and points the Indian menu directly at Kara. “Just for that I’m going to be extra weird, but I won’t be _weird_ weird.” Kara feels like she can breathe again and instantly reaches for her phone.

_Hey, turns out tonight is movie night with Alex, you’re still 110% welcome, I’m just warning you cause Alex is well Alex. Just wanna know whether or not you prefer pizza or Indian? Alex is leaning towards pizza and I want both so the choice is yours :)_

She tosses her phone on the couch and rushes over to the counter to go over the menus with Alex. For some reason she’s nervous Lena will change her mind, but when her ringer is heard from across the room, the Kim Possible beeps, the rushes across the room.

_I finally get to actually meet the infamous Alex Danvers? And both sounds good._

Kara can’t help but grin.

When there’s a knock on the door roughly 25 minutes later Kara skips over to open it. She grins at the woman standing on the other side, Lena looks ready for a movie night. Kara hardly gets to see her like this, usually she’s so put together and poised, but right now her hair is messily tied back and she’s wearing an oversized sweater and leggings. Kara loves this laid back version of Lena, she feels lucky that she gets to see her like this knowing so many people never will. “Hey, Lena, food should be here soon.” She pulls the door open wide and the woman walks through. 

“Perfect, I am starving.” Kara sees Alex stand and start walking closer in her periphery so she shakes her head. 

“Where are my manners? Lena this is my sister Alex, Alex this is my friend Lena.” Kara stands back and watches as the two shake hands and exchange pleasantries. The blonde shifts awkwardly on her feet before jutting a thumb over her shoulder. “I’m gonna get a drink, anyone want anything?”

“I’ll have a glass of wine, please,” Lena says. Alex just nods and Kara can feel herself getting nervous. As she walks behind Lena to get to the kitchen she mouths a very obvious ‘be cool’. Kara tries to make it seem like she’s not listening to whatever it is that they’re saying, but she suspects she fails. 

“It’s really nice to meet you, Kara speaks so highly of you.” Lena’s always been very polite, but this seems like it’s verging on the edge of shy. She’s only seen Lena so reserved once. Kara thinks it’s sweet. 

“Same goes for you, she thinks you’re a really good friend.” Alex grins and Kara looks up the moment it falls away. “Don’t let her down.” There’s something else that carries in Alex’s voice, something Kara can’t quite place, but it causes Lena to put up her exterior. Kara mental curses thinking this was a good idea. She walks over with the drinks and hands the glass of wine to Lena.

“Should we, uhm, sit?” Kara suggests, trying hard to break the tension between the two. Everyone shuffles over to the couch and sits. Kara and Lena on one couch, Alex on the one opposite them. The blonde turns to look at Lena and smiles. “How was work?”

The brunette exhales heavily. “I think if I see another report of any kind my eyes will fall out of their sockets.” She shakes her head and leans back. Kara smiles and turns to Alex.

“Lena is the head of an engineering department,” she relays to Alex. The brunette just nods and looks at Lena.

“With which company?” Kara can see Lena’s curt smile in response. She turns to look at Alex, eyes widening. The words be cool die on her tongue just before they exit her lips.

“It’s a fairly boring company, you wouldn’t have heard of it,” Lena says, waving it off.

Alex just quirks an eyebrow and takes a sip of the beer she had left long forgotten on the table. “Try me.”

At that exact moment there’s a loud knock on the door and Kara jumps up to answer it. “Alex, will you help me please?” The oldest Danvers begrudgingly nods. The two make their way to the front of the apartment and just before Kara opens the door she turns to her sister. “That is not being nice or cool,” the blonde whispers harshly. She rips open the door to see the two awkward delivery boys standing there staring at each other. 

“Hey, Kara, I’ve got your pizzas here,” the ginger haired boy says. Kara grins, Zach has been bringing her pizzas since she moved in.

“Uhm, I’m not sure I have the right apartment…” the other boy begins. Alex turns to him and nods.

“You’ve definitely got the right apartment,” Alex says before turning back to Kara. “I am, considering how little you know about her Kara.” The blonde rolls her eyes and grabs the pizzas before paying Zach. 

“Cheers, Kara,” the blonde gives him a happy little wave before nudging Alex to get the other food. The brunette makes quick work of it and follows Kara to the island. 

“Look, Alex, whatever it is that Lena might not want to tell me, I get it, okay?” She turns to her sister. “It’s not like I tell people where I’m actually from, so just chill out, okay?” Alex sighs and takes the food out. 

“I just, want you to be careful, is all,” Alex mumbles. Kara sighs and nods her head.

“I know,” and with that they begin their careful act of balancing the food and plates while walking over to the couches. Once they set everything down and everyone is settled they begin eating. It’s Alex who speaks up first.

“So, Lena, where’d you go to college?” And slowly the tension begins to dissolve and the three of them are sharing anecdotes from their college days. 

Nearly an hour later and they’re still talking, the movie has yet to even be decided. Alex and Lena had long ago started arguing about some science thing Kara hadn’t understood. She had tuned out somewhere around Newton’s law. She’s just listening to the sounds of the city, everything and everyone out there. If she focuses she’s sure she can hear Winn as he hollers while playing a video game, and then there’s Cat who still hasn’t left her office, despite having sent Kara home hours ago. She listens to the music of the city and when her ears pick up on a news station playing in another home she sits up. Neither girl next to her has noticed her abrupt change, but Kara can still hear the words. 

“ _Luthor attacks Metropolis in his vendetta against Superman_ ,” Kara turns on her TV flipping to find the news channel. No wonder Cat is still in her office. When she finally lands on it her eyes go wide. The alien can hear her own heart beating in her ears. Realistically she knows Kal-El can’t be harmed on this planet, but she still worries about her cousin. Then she sees the destruction of Metropolis, the people shook, the small death toll in the corner of the screen. Kara watches and takes in the reality of the damage and her bones itch to jump in and help them. Metropolis is only an hour’s flight from here, Kara wonders if she can still even fly, and she wants to know wants to help so badly that she beings to tremble.

“Kara, Kara are you okay?” The voice is distant, her ears are focused on the TV in front of her, but she knows that it’s Lena. She feels the light weight of her hand touching her back and knows Alex is calling to her, but Kara doesn’t acknowledge them just stares at the screen on the TV. Lena’s hand falls off of her back and she sees Alex moving in her periphery. Kara thinks that, if she focuses hard enough, she can hear the screams coming from Metropolis or maybe it’s from somewhere in National City. Either way, it makes Kara angry. The itching she feels in her bones turns hot, burning her skin. She needs to help but she can’t. Can’t because it’s not safe, not for her, or anyone she cares about. And she’s angry, so so angry. She’s squeezing the remote in her hands and is not surprised when Alex comes over and takes the broken bits from her hands. 

“Kara, Kara, look at me,” the blonde barely manages to turn her head towards Alex. “I’m sure Clark is fine.” The younger Danvers rolls her eyes. She’s sure too, there isn’t anything that could hurt them on this planet, Alex knows that. She knows that what her sister is trying to say is, he doesn’t need your help. Maybe she’s right, but as of this moment with the little number on the screen rising, it sure as hell seems like she does. 

“I just—how could someone do that to all of those innocent people?” Kara grits out through clenched teeth. “What have they ever done to him, huh?” Kara isn’t sure who she’s yelling at, Alex, the TV, the universe. “I don’t get it! I don’t understand, why would someone do something like that?” Kara’s breathing is ragged, her body had gone still. The alien thinks that if her glasses weren’t on her television would be in flames. “He’s…he’s..such a jerk!” Kara says lowly. She notices a shift next to her and then Lena is talking.

“I’ve got to go…work emergency. I’m terribly sorry, I’ll uhm, see you later, Kara,” Kara faintly turns towards the voice, but by then Lena is gone and Alex is slapping her upside the head. 

“Ow, fuck, you are seriously hard headed, figuratively and literally,” Alex says clutching her right hand. The older Danvers stands and shuts off Kara’s television at that moment.

“Alex, I need to help those people. They’re dying and I can save them!” Alex kneels in front of her, taking a deep, shaky breath. 

“It’s too dangerous, Kara. If you reveal yourself out there your life will never be the same. You know that,” Alex is sighing. Kara knows she’s right, hates that she’s right, but she can’t stop the little indignant voice in the back of her head saying that she’s wrong. 

She clenches her eyes shut and reminds herself to breathe, trying to locate the indignant familiar voice in her mind. It whispers softly to her, “not yet, my brave girl, now isn’t your time.” It’s her mother, it’s always her mother. She’s hit with a pang sorrow, but she straightens and begins to feel soothed by the reassuring whisper. She feels the anger dissipating and clings to those words like it’s her lifeline. _Not yet_ , she can hold on to the knowledge that someday she’ll help people. In the midst of this Kara isn’t prepared for another smack upside the head. Especially considering that it hurts Alex and Kara only feels a light pressure against her skull.

“But you’re also an idiot for not having figured it out by now!” Alex is staring at her and rubbing her, likely sore, palm. Kara is taken aback and stares at her. 

“Figured out what?” Kara asks. The brunette looks incredulously at her, but the youngest Danvers can’t sort out what she’s missing for the life of her. She recalls what happened in her head over and over. The only thing out of the ordinary is Lena leaving so abruptly, well and her demolishing the remote. “Lena?” The blonde asks slowly. Alex gestures vaguely and nods her head. “What about her?” Alex immediately brings her hand up to cover her face and shakes her head. 

“You are so oblivious sometimes,” she mumbles into her hand.

“Alex what, what is it?” Kara is sitting on the edge of the couch now, staring up at her sister. 

“You really have no clue do you?” The eldest Danvers looks down at her and sighs before sitting next to her on the couch. “Lena is Lex’s sister, Kara.” 

And then suddenly it all makes sense. Lena doesn’t like to talk about her family, she works for a large company, one like Luthor Corp, she speaks four languages, she looks like she stepped out of a fashion magazine almost always, Kara always assumed Lena’s family was very wealthy she had just never considered that Lena was, well, a Luthor. She stands up immediately running through everything that happened in her head. Just when she felt like Lena was beginning to open up to her she had to open her mouth and ruin everything. The woman was probably petrified that the blonde would never speak to her again if she told her about her family. Kara takes a deep breath.

“Oh my god, Lena,” she whispers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's that. I have an exam coming up in the next few days so I probably won't update until Friday or Saturday. Hope you guys liked the update :)


	3. Family Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara fucked up and now she's trying to fix it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE GUYS! I have written this chapter maybe 1200 times and just never liked the way it turned out, add that onto the stress of a random exam two weeks in to the semester, two essays, scene studies, being in a show, family and friend stuff, and being ill I've barely had the time to breathe these last few weeks. But right now I don't have anything due, only two super easy exams, and rehearsals so I have so much more time to write! The next chapter should actually be up either later tonight or tomorrow. Hope everyone enjoyed the episode, lots of love. Once again really sorry.

“Oh my god, Lena,” she whispers. Kara runs a hand haphazardly through her hair. She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt she needs to apologize, grovel, possibly beat down her door. Immediately Kara rushes towards her front door, nothing in the world is able to stop her, until she hears Alex call out her name.

The blonde turns towards the oldest Danvers and stares at her, waiting for the explanation for why he’s been stopped. “Where are you going?” 

“To apologize, possibly get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness,” Kara shrugs. “Haven’t quite figured it out yet, I’m still trying to remove my foot from my mouth.” Kara watches as her sister exhales heavily and shakes her head.

“I don’t think you should go,” the brunette answers. “I think you should leave it, considering that she’s, well, a Luthor.” Kara stares at Alex, stunned.  

“And I’m a Danvers, what’s your point?” She watches as her older sister gestures back to her tv, throwing her hands around. Kara is still staring at her waiting for a response. 

“Look at what her brother is doing to Clark! What if she shares the same anti-alien sentiments,” Alex yells. The blonde rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

“No, I know her Alex, she isn’t like that.” The woman stares at her incredulously.  

“You don’t know that. I mean, God, Kara you didn’t even know her last name until today. What if she is like her brother, huh? And what is she finds out who you really are?” The brunette yells, Kara takes a step back. She knows, deep down, that her sister is just trying to protect her, but right now she doesn’t care. Kara takes a deep breath and clenches her eyes shut.

“Alex, that’s not fair. We all have our secrets, all of us.” She breathes heavily. The blonde straightens her spine and meets her sister’s eye. “And grouping her into her family like that, isn’t fair either. That’s like saying because you and Eliza are scientists I am a scientist. You can’t just group someone with what their family does.” The air in Kara’s apartment is thick and tense. The blonde is vastly aware that every second she spends here arguing with Alex is one second closer to losing Lena and Kara refuses to let that happen. 

Alex sighs and shakes her head. “I know you care about her, Kara, but think about how little you know about her past. I don’t trust her or her family, I just wanna protect you.” The blonde rolls her eyes, she can’t keep doing this. Not right now, right now she has other priorities. 

“Look, Alex, I get it and we can argue about this later, okay?” The blonde turns around and walks towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, ” she calls over her shoulder, ignoring her sister as she yells for her to come back.

~~~

The blonde knocks on Lena’s door relentlessly for twenty minutes. “Lena, please open the door.” She calls. “Please, I’m sorry, just open up so we can talk. Lena, come on!” Kara knocks a little too hard and notices a small dent has formed on her friend’s door. She winces, but continues to knock. “Lena, please,” the blonde sighs when after a moment the door still hasn't opened. She turns and leans against the door, sliding down to the ground and extending her legs out in front of her. Kara examined the hallway around her. She walked down it everyday, it wasn’t anything particularly special. Now though, Kara was prepared to spend her entire night in that hallway sitting against Lena’s door. She took in a deep breath and began talking. “Lena, I’m so sorry. And I’m prepared to stay here until you leave for work tomorrow morning so that I can actually tell _you_ that. You’re my friend Lena and I’m sorry I said what I did, I was angry and upset and—I just, I’m sorry. Really sorry. Really, really—,” Kara cuts off abruptly when the door she’s leaning against opens and she falls backwards into Lena’s legs. The blonde looks up at the woman from her position on the floor and gives her a little wave. “Hiya,” she whispers before rushing to get to her feet.

She takes in Lena’s appearance, sopping wet hair, skin glistening the way it does when it’s still slightly wet from the shower, and puffy, red rimmed eyes. The kind you get from crying for a long time. The blonde gives her a soft smile, one Lena doesn’t return. Instead the other woman casts her eyes down to her feet and begins shaking her head. “So, I guess you’ve figured it out then, considering you are camped out at my door.” Her voice is raw and Kara kicks herself for opening her mouth. 

“Lena, I’m so sorry—,” she begins, but her friend cuts her off. 

“Save it, Kara, you were right. Everything you said was right, he’s horrible. He has no reason to hurt all of those people. He’s a jerk, a monster. He’s awful, but…” Lena’s voice wavers and Kara can’t stand still any longer. She reaches forward and wraps Lena in her arms. The woman is stiff at first, rigid as a board in Kara’s embrace, but after a few moments she melts into it and buries her face in Kara’s neck.

“But he’s still your brother,” Kara whispers. Lena’s sob is muffled by Kara’s shoulder and the blonde tries to hold her closer. They remain like that for a few moments, standing in Lena’s doorway holding each other like it’s their last resort. They break apart only when Lena pulls back and nods to her apartment. 

“Come inside, Kara, there are some things I should probably tell you.” The blonde enters the apartment quickly and turns back when she hears the door close.

“We don’t have to talk about it Lena, not if you don’t want to.” The brunette considers it a moment before shaking her head and walking to the couch.

“Kara, you are probably one of the best friends I’ve ever had.” Lena says, dropping herself onto the sofa and patting the spot next to her. Kara quickly rushes over to sit beside her, her face covered in a light pink tint. “You’ve been honest with me about your past, let me be honest about mine.” Kara nods and the two of them sit facing each other. The air is thick, the silence deafening, Kara waits for her to say something. Lena breathes a heavy sigh and begins. “I was adopted by the Luthors when I was four. Lex was the only one to make me feel welcome, the only one who made me feel at home.” Lena looks down and Kara hastily reaches out and takes Lena’s hand in her own. She means it as a sign of support, but the alien can’t help the rush that floods through her when she feels Lena interlock their fingers. “My mother wasn’t very warm or kind, and my father, well he wasn’t always around. Most days it felt like it was me and Lex against the world.” The brunette forces out a laugh and Kara gives her hand a squeeze.

“Lena,” she whispers, edging closer on the couch. The other woman looks up, gaze locking with Kara’s. The blonde is caught off guard. There are tears forming in Lena’s eyes, the beautiful vibrant green now a floating isle in the middle of an ocean. Kara feels her heart simultaneously break for her friend and skip a beat because somehow Lena is still absolutely breathtaking. 

“He was anything an orphan could hope an older brother would be. My adoptive family wasn’t perfect by any means, but to me, Lex was.” The brunette takes a deep, staggering breath and Kara shifts closer to her. “I was just finishing high school when my father died and Lex took over Luthor Corp. That’s when he started to uhm…” Lena pauses, at a loss for the correct words.

“Go off the deep end?” Kara supplies, the other woman offers her a soft, short laugh in return.

“Yeah, he uhm, well he blames Superman for my father’s death. Which is absolutely absurd,” Lena stares down at their entwined hands and Kara begins to rub her thumb across the back of Lena’s hand. She pretends not to hear the staggered breath it elicits from Lena. “When he started going on these…these _rampages_ I didn’t know what to do. I mean, my father he’d just died and now I was losing my brother.” The brunette tears begin to spill and Kara watches on in silence aching to take the pain away from her friend. “I tried everything I could to find my brother inside of that monster and bring him back, but nothing I did worked. One day I was practically begging him to stay home.” Kara watches her friend with concern as she fades into her memory. “I reached out to put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from leaving and he—, he grabbed my wrist and told me that if I ever touched him again he’d kill me like the rest of the alien scum. And that’s when I knew my brother was gone.” Lena pauses before locking eyes with Kara again. The blonde is startled by the pain she finds in her friend’s eyes. It reminds her of her first few months on Earth; the emptiness, the loneliness, the guilt Lena felt were all staring Kara straight in the face. “Now every time I see him it’s just a reminder that I failed, that I lost my brother, that I’m alone.” 

And that’s when Lena loses control. The tears that were already freely flowing down her face have now turned into wracking sobs. Kara instantly closes the distance between them. Her strong arms wrap tightly around Lena and she begins to slowly rock her back and forth. The brunette is shaking in her arms and Kara begins whispering in her ear. “Sh, Lena, it’s okay, I’m here. You’re not alone, I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” She repeats it over and over until Lena begins to relax and melt into her embrace. Kara thinks twenty minutes may have passed before Lena stops sobbing. There’s a spot on her shoulder that’s wet from Lena’s tears and the sides of her shirt are wrinkled from Lena’s bear like grasp. Kara still sits there, rocking and whispering softly to her for another few minutes before Lena speaks again.

“Kara?" 

“Yes, Lena?”

“Thank you, for being here.” She holds Lena closer to her. 

“I understand what it’s like to feel alone and responsible for something that you couldn’t control.” 

“Yeah, how’s that?” Lena’s voice holds no malice or sarcasm or disbelief, just a brand of pure unadulterated hope that maybe this person who has befriended her, been there for her, who knows her in a way most people would never, might be able to understand and relate to the worst parts of her. And Kara wants to give it to her. She wants to give her everything, the safety, the understanding, something she can hold on to and never let go. She opens her mouth, prepared to tell tales of a bright red sun and the way it would wash over her skin to kiss her awake each morning, but then Kara pauses. 

She almost tells Lena everything about herself, heat vision, freezy breath, _flight_ , but there’s a warning voice in the back of her head (that sounds strangely like Alex) screaming _no, no, no_. But her friend is here, shaking in her arms and Kara can’t refuse her this form of comfort that screams, _you are not alone_. So she adjusts the truth. “My parents died in a fire when I was thirteen. Our whole home burned to the ground, there was nothing left. I only survived because my mother woke me and told me to run as far as I could. She told me that they’d be right behind me. So I did, I ran and ran and ran…and my parents burned. I’ve always felt like it was my fault, like if I had stayed I could have stopped the fire or gotten them out.” Lena is quiet now, her breathing has softened from harsh, vibratory intakes, to gentle and soft breaths. “My cousin was my only living relative, but he couldn’t support me. Luckily I was adopted by the Danvers. My adoptive sister, Alex, she was the one who made me realize that it wasn’t my fault. And Lena?” She waits until the brunette turns to look at her, all wide, wet eyes, and red, red cheeks. “If I have to spend the rest of my life making sure that you know that too, I will. Because it is not your fault, no matter how much you blame yourself.”

 The brunette stares straight into Kara’s eyes and the blonde holds her gaze like she’s holding the entire world in her hands. “I’m sorry about your parents.” She whispers.

“I’m sorry about your brother.”

The room is dead still for a moment. Kara can hear the soft vibrating noise of the lights around them. She can hear the noises of the woman upstairs, frantically pacing the kitchen floor, awaiting her husband’s return. Down on the street she can hear the sound of children’s laughter and, moments later, a stern voice telling them to come inside. Kara can hear every sound, but the only one she cares about is the frantic beating of Lena’s heart. They’re still cuddled up on the couch, Lena tucked away into Kara’s arms. They’re so close that Kara could count the lines on Lena’s lips. She want so badly in that moment to just lean forward and kiss her. The blonde adjusts ever so slightly and it causes them to wind up even closer. Kara can now feel Lena’s chest softly brushing hers with every breath they take. She watches intently as Lena’s eyes drop down to her lips and she leans in closer. Kara follows her lead. Something is hovering in the air between them, electric fuelled chemistry everywhere around them. Kara can no longer hear the sounds from the street below or the apartment above, all her senses are focused on is _Lena, Lena, Lena_. She lets her eyes flutter closed. She can’t see Lena’s eyes widen in realization, but Kara feels her pull back, she hears her clear her throat. The alien opens her eyes and all of the sounds filter back in. 

Lena hasn’t pulled away completely, she’s still in Kara’s embrace. The blonde can feel her face heating up and one look at the other woman shows the same redness has spread up her cheeks to her ears. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—,” Lena begins.

“No, no I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

“But you didn’t—“

“You were crying and we had been talking and I told you about my parents—“

“It was just such a tense moment and you were here—“

“I never meant to take advantage of you like that!” They both say at the same time. The two women lock eyes for the first time since the almost-kiss. Both of them burst into laughter.

“Kara you didn’t take advantage of me.”

“And you didn’t take advantage of me!” The blonde sighs, unsure of what else to say.

“Why don’t we just forget about it? Neither of us were thinking all too clearly anyway.” Kara would be lying if she said that didn’t sting. She can’t take her eyes off of Lena, who's staring down at her hands while she fiddles with her fingers, and realizes she can’t say no. Lena’s already been hurt enough in her life, she’s had enough people leave her behind and treat her poorly. Kara won’t allow herself to be added to that list. 

“Of course. It’s already forgotten.” She returns the smile Lena gives her and they stay there, silent for another moment.

“Kara?”

“Yes, Lena?”

“Will you tell me about your parents? About your life before?” Kara certainly isn’t expecting that, but she finds she’s already willing to do anything for Lena and simply cannot deny her this.

“If you tell me about yours.” (What Kara doesn’t know is that Lena agrees because she can’t refuse Kara just as much as Kara can’t refuse her.)

They spend the rest of the night on Lena’s couch exchanging stories about their lives before everything changed. 

“When I was ten, I spent ages trying to perfect this sculpture I was making for my dad. I could never get it quite right and I felt so awful that I didn’t even want to give it to him, but when I did he was so happy. I swear his smile lit up the entire planet that day.”

“Once, when I was thirteen my best friend, Taylor Von Reagent, outed me to our entire school and she spread some horrible lies about me. Lex held me all night while I cried. Then he walked me to every single class for months and he would skip class to sit with me at lunch. He was popular and hanging out with me like that made me popular. Soon enough, no one cared that I was gay or what Taylor said. They liked me for me, but they never would have given me a chance if it weren’t for Lex.”

“My Aunt Astra used to tell me stories about the stars. She was my best friend. We used to pretend we were spies, we even had our own secret signal. She used to tell me so many stories about when she and my mom were little, they were identical twins and they used to play tricks on people all the time. I used to think that it was so weird, I couldn’t reconcile this rebellious image of my mother with the upholder of justice that she was.”

“My parents were away a lot so every single weekend we would build a huge blanket castle in the living room. I’m pretty sure Lex secretly hated it, but every single weekend, without fail, he helped me make this blanket fort and we’d tell ghost stories and watch movies and read books and we developed our own secret language. All because he knew how much I loved it.”

“I remember being really little, maybe three or four, and my mother had come home from work. I could tell something was wrong because it was late and she wasn’t smiling like normal. She pulled me into her lap that night and told me that people in this world would be cruel and that, no matter what, I should be brave and take a stand for myself and for others. And to always, _always_ be kind.”

“Right before everything went to hell I was in a bad car accident. My friends and I were driving out to the beach for a bonfire party when a drunk driver hit us. I was in a coma for a week and Lex never once left my bedside. He had been talking to me right before I woke up and the first thing I heard when I opened my eyes was him telling me that he loved me.” 

~~~

It’s nearing two am when Kara admits in a trembling voice that she’s scared she’s forgotten the sound of her mother’s voice or her father’s scent. Lena pulls her close then and wraps them both in the blanket draped over the back of her couch. They settle like that, each whispering things they afraid of. And no matter what, after each and every admission, the other would softly respond ‘you won’t have to face it alone, I’ll be right by your side.’

~~~

Around three Kara notices that Lena is struggling to keep her eyes open. It’s extremely late and Kara assumes Lena has to work the next day and since she’s not an alien who can manage on two hours of sleep, she knows Lena needs to go to bed. So she stands and pulls Lena up with her. “You need to get some sleep so you can be the big bad corporate powerhouse we both know you are.” The brunette smiles sleepily at her and nods. 

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I didn’t even notice how late it was.” Kara watches as Lena tries to stifle yet another yawn telling her the brunette knows exactly how late it is. 

“Mhm,” she responds with a teasing smile. “I’ll let you get to it then, see you tomorrow?” Lena’s eyes widen, but she nods gently. Kara begins to walk away, towards the door, when Lena’s voice stops her.

“Kara wait!” The blonde turns around and sees Lena fiddling with her hands again.

“Yes, Lena?”

“Well, I was just thinking that..well since it’s so late and all and you live…well, next door, but the noise of you closing your door might wake the neighbours and well, we wouldn’t want that!” Kara tries to fight back a smile, but finds herself failing miserably. She just finds this so adorable, I mean it’s Lena standing in front of her tired and rambling in a way that is so unlike Lena. The blonde walks over to her.

“Lena.”

“Yes, Kara?” 

“Do you want me to stay?”

The brunette shrugs and tilts her head to the side. “If you don’t have any other plans, you could, you know, if you wanted to.” Kara laughs softly at her friend’s antics and shakes her head.

“I definitely have no other plans at three am and, for the record, I will never have any plans that take priority when a friend needs me. I’m here for you, Lena.” The smile Kara gets in return is heart warming. 

“My room is this way,” Lena says with a soft nod over her shoulder. Kara’s heart begins to race, yet she follows anyway. She hadn’t quite taken into consideration that they’d be sharing a bed. It’s not like Kara minded, they had just been cuddling for hours after all, she just wasn’t expecting it. For some stupid reason she’d thought she would sleep on the couch, but now, now her heart was racing and memories of the almost kiss from earlier in the night were filling Kara’s mind. When they walk into Lena's room, it’s exactly how Kara imagined it. (And she’d imagined it more times than she’d like to admit.)

There were floor to ceiling windows along one wall, like there were in her apartment, framed by deep plum coloured drapes. There was a white divider with a mahogany frame in the corner over by the windows next to, what Kara could only assume was, her closet. Behind is a large dresser that looked to be made out of the same wood used on the divider. Then, in the middle of the room, was her bed. The duvet was the same rich shade as the drapes and if her white sheets were as soft as they looked Kara would have no trouble sleeping tonight. 

“I’m sure I have an old t-shirt or something you can wear.” Lena says, crossing to the dresser. Kara shakes herself from her examination of the room and nods. The thought hadn’t even occurred to her. Realistically she could always run to her apartment and grab pyjamas, but not a single cell in her body wanted to. When Lena crosses back over to her she hands her an oversized MIT t-shirt. “The bathroom is just around the corner, which I’m sure you know.” Her friend smiles gently and Kara whispers a soft ‘thanks’ before exiting to the room. 

Kara feels a bit ridiculous. She changes rapidly into the shirt Lena has given her, but she can’t shake why she’s so nervous. She's shared a bed with her friends before, she’d gone to sleepovers every weekend for almost a month once, and Kara still has sleepovers with Alex sometimes. Kara knows though, that this is so, so different. She doesn’t look at Lena as just a friend. She doesn’t know that she ever has, but tonight she’s going to force herself to. Because Lena needs Kara as a friend and that’s what she’ll darn well be. Almost kisses will go ignored, just like the fluttering in her stomach. Kara exits the bathroom and walks into Lena’s room. There the other woman is standing in a tight tank top and a tiny pair of shorts which makes this a lot harder than what Kara had hoped. She makes a quip about feeling like she’s in high school again and the pair climb into bed.

The feelings don't quiet the way Kara wants them too. They begin singing when they’re laying there and Lena snuggles into her side. They cheer when Kara wraps her arm around her and she snuggles in closer. And when Lena whispers a soft ‘thank you for being here, Kara’ against her neck they scream. Their cacophony is so loud and demanding that Kara can’t shut it out. She tries her best to focus on something else, _anything else_. But nothing works.

(It’s nothing compared to the ruckus they cause when Kara softly kisses the top of Lena’s head and softly promises ‘always’.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked it, next chapter should be up tomorrow at the latest.


	4. Under the Volcanoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's an article, stuff happens, Lena and Winn meet so that's cool. Fun Fact: Under the Volcanoe is my favourite restaurant from my home town and I was missing it so it made an appearance in here.

The next morning Kara wakes softly. The sheets she feels under her bare legs are soft and warm. The duvet wrapped around her isn’t her own, but it’s silky and nice regardless. There’s a warm weight pressing down on her chest and against her left leg and there’s some kind of dark veil draped over her face; it smells nice, like strawberries. The blonde realizes a fraction of a second later the exact circumstances she’s under and that she should be less concerned with what this veil smells like and more concerned with the fact that someone has undoubtedly kidnapped her in her sleep. Kara begins flailing, swinging her arms and legs about in a frantic need to get away. When her elbow hits something soft a disgruntled ‘oomf’ sounds out right next to her ear. She continues kicking until she rolls over and lands on a floor. The veil has disappeared, but Kara hears a groan from beside her. She turns her head sharply to the side to see her assailant, but is instead greeted by a very grumpy Lena. The memories of the night before come flooding back explaining why she was in a strange bed with Lena’s hair covering her face. 

“Oh my god, Lena, are you alright?” Kara asks crawling over to her. “I am so sorry, I completely forgot where I was and I guess I just freaked out and—and oh my god, I elbowed you. I am so sorry, I didn’t mean too I just, fight or flight you know? I mean, I guess for me it’s fight or flight or flail, but—oh god, you’re mad aren’t you?”

Her friend gives her a weak glare and an over exaggerated sigh. “I’m only mad because you woke me up before the alarm.” She mumbles pulling herself up off the floor and extending her hand to Kara. “I am going back to bed, _you_ can make coffee to make it up to me.” She says with a soft smile before climbing back into her huge bed. Kara laughs and no later than the moment her head hits the pillow, Lena is asleep once more. Kara had always known she wasn’t a morning person.

Forty-five minutes later Kara has showered, gotten ready, made coffee and breakfast, when she finally hears Lena’s alarm go off. Actually she’s sure the whole building heard the alarm go off, the setting must be ridiculously high. The brunette appears ten minutes later, dragging her feet and pulling the hood on her sweater down over her eyes. “I hate mornings,” she groans. Kara can’t help laughing, she’d grown up with Alex so she knew what people who hated mornings were like, but this was a whole new layer of Lena. “What?” Her friend asks, popping out from under her hood. 

“You’re just funny is all,” Kara passes her a cup of coffee and she swears she sees the life return to Lena’s eyes. 

“God bless you,” she moans as she takes a sip. Kara’s face heats up as her mind goes to places a friend’s decidedly should not go. The blonde shrugs, clearing her throat.

“Well, I did knock you out of bed this morning.” 

“Yeah, thanks for that.” The brunette fumbles again, this time Kara slides a plate of eggs and bacon towards her. 

“Quit your whining, I made an ‘I’m sorry breakfast’.” Kara smirks when Lena’s face lights up.

“You arranged it into a smiley face, why am I not surprised?” Kara rolls her eyes and turns to go when Lena grabs her hand. “But seriously, thank you, Kara. For everything.” The blonde knows she means more than the plate of expertly arranged breakfast food and she grins.

“Always, Lena. Now hurry up and get ready, you don’t wanna get fired.” She teases.

“They can’t fire me, it’s my family’s company.”

“Yes, well, Cat Grant can fire me, so I’ll see you later,” Kara turns to leave, sending a smile over her shoulder as Lena shouts out a goodbye. From the time she gets into the elevator all the way to Noonan’s, as she’s going up to the top floor, armed with Cat’s coffee she can’t shake how entirely right that felt. How the domesticity felt so perfect, so in place. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she wants that every single morning. 

~~~

She’s still thinking about Lena when Cat calls a meeting with the department heads. She’s absentmindedly taking notes when she hears one very peculiar name arise. “…Lex Luthor’s latest activities are everywhere, no one has been able to get a quote from his family.” Kara is now paying rapt attention to Cat, all thoughts of the morning shifted to the back of her mind. “But Lex has a sister, here in National City. What’s her name? Linda, Lucy…”

“Lena,” somebody pipes up from the back of the room. Kara has half a mind to fly him to Antarctica and leave him there.

“Right, anyway, I want a quote from her directly. Find out what she has to say.” Cat begins and Kara, always nervous and shy in her boss’ presence, finds herself speaking without a second thought. 

“No,” she cries and immediately wishes she hadn’t said a word. Cat is looking at her as if she’s some wild animal.

“I’m sorry, Keira, did you just say something?” Kara knows her next words need to be chosen very, very carefully.

“I just mean that, well, his sister doesn’t have anything to do with it and—uhm it’d be awful to watch someone you, well, love turn into something like this. So, a-adding to the problem by, uhm, questioning her, would just make it worse.” Cat is giving her a scrutinizing glare and she stands up and looks at everyone in the room. 

“You all have your assignments, you can go.” The room begins to empty and Kara is desperate to flee. “Except you, Keira.” The blonde halts in her tracks and turns slowly to face the older woman. The room is silent for a moment as Cat crosses her office to pour herself a drink. Kara stands stock still preparing herself for the inevitability that is unemployment. “Keira, does this look like a therapists office?” Kara shakes her head at the unexpected answer. 

“N-no, Miss Grant.” 

“Do I have a line-up of clients waiting for me to Sigmund Freud their lives?”

“No, Miss Grant.”

“Exactly, Keira. This is a multi-media empire.” Cat begins to cross the room towards Kara and the blonde stands like a deer in headlights. “We deal with journalism here. That means we report the truth, despite what some billionaire heiress is _feeling_. And if you can’t put on your big girl pants and get the job done, then why are you here, Keira?” There it is.

The blonde opens her mouth to respond, ready to say anything to keep her job. She loves it here, she wouldn’t give up CatCo for the world. “I can, Miss Grant, I just—,” she’s about to tell Cat that she knows Lena, but she pauses. Cat is dead set on getting a quote from Lena Luthor and if she finds out there was a connection to her right under her nose Cat would use that to get what she wanted. So Kara quiets and looks dumbstruck for a moment.

“You just what, Keira?” She sighs heavily when the younger blonde fails to answer. “You know, you have potential here, Keira. Don’t blow it.” Her boss snipes out, Kara sighs. 

“Yes, Miss Grant.” She replies quickly.

“Now, Snapper is going to get a quote from Lena Luthor and you are going to proof that article and right now you’re going down to the art department to get the prints from that photoshoot a few days ago, are we clear?” Cat is standing all too close to her, a mechanism Kara has discovered she uses to intimidate people and my, oh my, does it work. The young blonde quickly nods her head and flies, figuratively, over to the elevator, quickly depositing her tablet on her desk and shooting Winn an ‘I almost died’ look.

In the elevator she remembers exactly why she was just nearly fired by Cat Grant and quickly sends Lena a text.

_Lunch?? :)_

Kara’s in the elevator on her way up to deliver the proof to Cat when she receives a reply.

_Lunch with my favourite person, how could I resist? There’s this place on third called Under the Volcano, they make excellent empanadas. Meet there around 1:30?_

Kara sends a quick response and rushes into Cat’s office.

_I’ll see you at 1:30._

~~~

Around one fifteen Winn wanders over to her desk. “Ready to go, Kara?” She looks up from her paperwork and gives Winn a confused glance.

“Go where?” She responds.

“Lunch, it’s Wednesday? Cat’s about to leave for that two hour meeting with her attorney which means we take a extended lunch, remember?” Kara now does remember exactly what Winn means. She takes a sharp breath letting a soft ‘oh, no’ escape when she does so. “What? Are you okay? Earth to Kara?” Winn begins waving a hand in front of her face but Kara is trying to sort out exactly what to do. She had planned to use this lunch to warn Lena that Cat Grant was going to send her hounds out for blood, but if Winn came along would he tell someone what she said? She’d definitely be fired then. She looks up at Winn and shakes her head. Winn was her friend, Kara’s sure he wouldn’t say anything if she asked him not to. 

“Yeah, yeah, just gimme a sec.” Kara stands and begins to gather her things, Winn waiting patiently by her desk, when Cat walks passed.

“I’ll be back by four, Keira, make sure my latte is hot.”

“Yes, Miss Grant.” With that the Queen of all Media descends down her private elevator and Kara and Winn are free to go. They begin walking towards the elevators when the blonde looks over at her friend. “Is it okay if a friend of mine comes along? She’s really cool and my neighbour and I kinda spaced on today being Thursday and asked her to go get lunch and she wants to go to this place that apparently has really good empanadas. Do you like empanadas? What even is an empanada?” Kara rushes out in one solid breath. Winn laughs lightly and raises his hands.

“Whoa Kara, breathe. Of course I don’t mind your friend coming. What’s her name?” Kara pauses for a moment and looks around, when she’s sure no one is close enough to overhear she steps closer to Winn.

“ _Feena Fuffor_ ,” she mutters out the side of her mouth.

“What?”

“ _Fedena Flufor_ ,” she tries again. Winn only looks more confused than the last time.

“Maybe try speaking English, Kara.” The blonde exhales roughly and turns towards him.

“It’s Lena Luthor,” she mutters.

“What?” He yells. “Le—,” Kara claps a hand over his mouth and shushes him. Just then the elevator doors open and the two, in the awkward position in which they’ve found themselves, jump back and enter the lift filled with curious onlookers. 

They stay quiet, a tense silence filling the elevator as per usual. When all of the patrons exit the elevator on the 22nd floor, Winn turns to face her with flailing arms.

“You’re friends with Lena Luthor?!” He shouts. Kara covers her face and nods.

“But she’s nothing like her brother, Winn. She’s good and nice and sweet and—,” Kara begins and Winn cuts her off.

“One of the most brilliant engineers on the planet!” He exclaims.

“What?” That wasn’t what Kara was expecting by far, but people had been surprising her so much lately that it was beginning to feel normal.

“She’s incredible, by far the best head of R & D Luthor Corp has ever had. And you’re friends with her—wait, are you gonna tell her about the article?” Kara freezes.

“You can’t tell anyone Winn!” She says leaping forward, finger aimed at her friend. That is, of course, when the elevator door opens and people begin to flood inside. They jump back and stand stoically next to each other.

“Don’t worry, Kara, your secret is safe with me.” Winn whispers. The blonde can’t help but grin. 

~~~ 

Kara completely forgot about telling Lena about the new development that is Winn until they’re walking into the restaurant and Kara is searching for familiar green eyes. “I think that’s her over there,” Winn points and Kara lights up. She rushes over to the table and halfway there she stops. 

“Winn, she may not be aware that you’re here,” Kara whispers.

“Of course not, you know, for a assistant, you have a pretty crap memory.”

“Shut up,” she mumbles. The blonde continues her walk to the table and when her friend looks up she grins.

“Kara,” the brunette says, standing to hug her. The alien enthusiastically returns the embrace. They pull away all too soon for Kara’s liking and that’s when Lena notices the new addition. “Who’s the new guy?”

Kara smiles and laughs softly. “Oh, uh, funny story actually! Winn and I usually grab lunch on Wednesdays and wha’d’ya know?” Kara gestures palms up. “Today is Wednesday and I totally spaced out.” Kara rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. Lena smiles.

“And I’m assuming that this is your friend, Winn?” The brunette asks, looking passed Kara. “Lena, it’s nice to meet you.” She smiles extending her hand. Kara moves out of the way and the two shake.

“Winn Schott, it’s a pleasure. I’ve seen some of your work, Lena, and can I just say..wow!” The two laugh and Lena offers a polite thank you in return. “As much as this standing thing is fun, that waitress over there is glaring daggers at us and I’d rather not be served a sneezer.” The trio all turn to the direction Winn gestures to and, upon seeing one very annoyed waitress, slide into the booth. The moment they sit down, Lena asks about her day so far. Kara is bursting to tell her about the article, but for some reason it still feels private. Even though Winn knows what she is planning to do it, it still feels as if it’s something between her and Lena. Something that needs to be handled delicately, without watchful eyes.

“Good, well, demanding, but that’s just working for Cat Grant, right Winn?” He shrugs and tilts his head to the side.

“Well, yeah, but certainly not as much for me. Cat Grant walks passed me everyday, but she still doesn’t know my name. Pretty sure I’m just a lowly IT guy in her eyes. Certainly not as stressful as following her every move like you do, _Keira_.” He laughs. Kara rolls her eyes. She turns to Lena who’s looking at the pair confused. 

“Cat calls me Keira.” She whispers to the woman seated next to her. Then she turns to face the brunette across from them. “And Winn here is selling himself short! He is undoubtedly the best IT guy I’ve ever met. Didn’t you single handedly code CatCo’s firewalls.”

“That’s impressive, coding can be challenging to grasp.” Lena responds. Kara turns to look at her because _of course_ Lena can code. Kara’s beginning to think there’s nothing she can’t do. Winn takes the bait easily and the two spend a solid amount of time talking science at each other. Kara takes a moment to fully take in the restaurant.

The windows at the front provide a great deal of the restaurant’s lighting. Besides the natural light they let in, the only other light sources are small lamps sitting on the tables scattered throughout the centre of the room and low hanging, dimmed lights above the booths. There are a lot of bold, bright colour throughout the restaurant though. The booths in particular alternate between bright blue and red. The particular booth they’re sitting in is a light blue colour. Almost like the sky on a completely cloudless day. The seats look slightly worn, like the place itself. Not worn in a bad way though, worn like Kara’s favourite book; well loved and cherished. The restaurant itself is tucked away in an alley way just off one of National City’s most popular streets. It’s hard to find, Kara probably would have walked right passed it. She’s not surprised in the slightest, however, that Lena had found it. It seemed like exactly the sort of place she would seek out. Hidden, reserved, but teeming with life and stories it’s waiting to share with the right person. Just like Lena herself. 

By the time Kara has made the assessment of the place and decided she loves it, the waitress has arrived at their table. The blonde places her order and waits for the other two to notice that the woman has come to stand at their table. “Guys,” she says. The alien is fairly certain their rapid speech is in an entirely different language, one Kara has never heard in her life and she’d been to twelve different planets. “Guys,” she tries again, noticing the waitress’ irritation. The two remain in their little bubble. Kara murmurs a sorry to the waitress. She decides that if she can’t get their attention she can at least try to get one of them to notice what was going on and since Lena was sitting next to her it makes her the obvious choice. The blonde slides closer and places her hand on the woman’s thigh, hoping the contact and proximity will draw her attention. Kara tries to ignore the sound of the brunette’s rapid heartbeat as she turns to face her. “Lena, the nice lady wants to take your order now.” Kara says with a smirk, Lena, a bit stunned shakes her head and turns to the waitress. 

“Right,” Lena begins, as she’s wrapping up her order Kara goes to remove her hand and Lena quickly reaches down and interlocks their fingers, resting their hands back on her leg. The blonde can’t help the blush gracing her cheeks and the grin that threatens to split her face in two. 

She doesn’t stop grinning either. Lena doesn’t let go of her hand, not when Winn orders, or they continue with chatter about work, and dammit Kara finds Lena absolutely stunning when she’s talking about things she loves. It’s memorizing in a way that forces Kara to keep her eyes locked on her, even if she barely understands what’s going on.

Lena doesn’t let go of her hand. Not when Winn excuses himself to go to the bathroom and Kara realizes this is her chance. The blonde hesitates for a moment, she wonders if bringing this up might cause Lena to withdraw herself and that’s the last thing she wants. Lena had told Kara that she hadn’t many friends in the city and right now her and Winn were really getting along. She didn’t want Lena’s concerns or anxieties to make her close off and hold her back from what was becoming a really sweet, nerdy friendship. Still, Kara knows that she can’t let Lena be taken by surprise. So, she turns quickly to face her. “Cat wants a quote from you on what’s going on with, well, y’know, and she’s sending one of her best guys and he’s good, really good so I just thought I’d warn you before you, y’know, get ambushed or something.” Kara rushes out. Lena stares at her for a moment, as if waiting for her to say something else. Kara waits hesitantly for her friend to unlock their fingers and pull away, like she would usually do when Kara mentioned her past. 

But that was before. 

Before they spent all night talking and crying and holding onto each other for dear life.

Now, Lena gives Kara’s hand a gentle squeeze accompanied by a smile. “Kara, just breathe, it’s gonna be fine.” The blonde finds herself doing just that and staring incredulously at Lena. “I know they want a quote, the guy, Snapper?” Kara nods quickly. “He tried to drop by my office earlier, but I was in a meeting and my assistant refused to let him wait. He scheduled an interview for later on in the week. He claimed it was about a new product we’re developing, but I’m not dense. I know what he’s after, it’s not the first time a reporter has knocked on my door, Kara. I doubt it will be the last.” She gives her a soft smile and the blonde nods.

“I just wanted to warn you since, well, since I tried to stick up for you, but it backfired.”

“What do you mean, stick up for me?” Lena asks, slight concern in her voice. Kara immediately averts eye contact and instead stares down at their intwined hands. 

“Cat doesn’t know that I know you, but today when she brought it up I objected, in front of everyone…” the blonde chances a glance up at her friend. “I just know it’s a sore spot for you and didn’t want anyone to bother you is all.” The look on Lena’s face can only be described as pure reverence. The only other person to ever really stick up for her or care about her feelings like this was Lex. It was different, seeing someone do this for her, seeing someone care for her. 

“That means a lot to me, Kara, but you don’t have to do that. I can fight my own battles, you know?” The last part is muttered teasingly and Kara rolls her eyes. 

“Doesn’t mean I won’t still help you fight them,” the blonde mumbles grumpily. 

“Yes, well, I also don’t want you losing your job.” The blonde sinks back into the booth and winces. “I’m honestly surprised Cat didn’t fire you on the spot.”

“You and me both.” There’s a slight pause in the air where neither of them speak. And then Lena hit Kara with a subject that was still all too sore.

“Kara, have you spoken to Alex yet?” Kara sits up straight and turns to look at Lena.

“Why—?”

“The walls between our apartments aren’t that thick, Kara, I could hear you arguing. I assume it had something to do with me?” Kara looks away and feels a soft thumb stroking the side of her hand. “I thought so, just please call her or something? I understand why she would react badly, I’m surprised you didn’t to be honest. But Kara?” The blonde slowly looks to her friend. “It’s not worth fighting with your sister over.” Kara wants to object, because Lena is worth fighting for, but then she remembers everything Lena went through with Lex and decides to explain instead.

“She’s just protected me my whole life and she just doesn’t know you well enough to know that I would never need protection against you.” Lena squeezes her hand and gives her a sweet smile. Kara melts to the plastic seating and she’s fairly certain she’s blushing…again. 

“Then talk to her and I’ll get to know her. Show her that my intentions are absolutely pure.” Lena winks at the end of her statement and Kara can feel the butterflies in her stomach rising up to her throat. She’s definitely blushing now and hoping beyond hope that Lena’s intentions are, in fact, not pure at all. 

Kara mentally berates herself for think that, reminding herself that they were just friends. _Friends, friends, friends_. But Kara isn’t sure she’ll last if Lena keeps looking at her like that. Winn arrives then and Kara thanks Rao for the interruption. Their food arrives shortly after and Lena was right, the empanadas are really, really good. They spend the rest of their lunch laughing amongst themselves and when it comes time to part it’s with the promises of getting together again and soon. Kara can’t stop herself from bubbling up with intense happiness that two of her closest friends are getting along. Now she just has to get Alex to come around. 

_Alex_ , Kara thinks. She pulls out her phone immediately already missing the fact that she can tell Alex absolutely everything, and with what happened last night and all the mixed feelings and the _almost kiss_ , Kara needed some big sisterly advice.

_Hey, my place tonight? Chinese, crappy TV, and sister talk (and cuddles??)..I’ll even let you have the last potsticker._

_Hey, I love you, and I’m sorry but I’m working the night shift at the lab. Tomorrow?? I have the day off I can come over whenever. And that is a definite yes to the sister cuddles._

Kara sighs and tries not to feel too disappointed. She could wait until tomorrow to sort this out with Alex, everything would be fine. She sends back a confirmation that tomorrow works and by then her and Winn are in line at Noonan’s. 

“So, you and Lena, huh?” Kara turns to her friend and furrows her brow. 

“What about me and Lena?”

“Oh come on, Kara, I’m not stupid.” Kara, still confused, shrugs at Winn. Her friend sighs deeply and looks around the place. “I know you and Lena are…more than just “good friends”.” He says, using air quotes and all. Kara, who’s traitorous face is turning bright pink yet again, begins to refuse profusely.

“No, no, Winn, it’s not like that. We’re just friends. Good friends. The best of friends, even.” She tries. 

“Suure, just some regular ol’ gal pals who hold each other’s hands throughout an entire lunch?”

“Exactly,” Kara says, but one look at her friend shows how little he’s buying it. “No, look Winn we’re just friends, okay? I swear, there is _nothing_ going on between us.” Kara says, taking Cat’s latte from the barista and exiting the restaurant, leaving Winn scrambling to catch up.

“Okay, Kara. Whatever you say.” Kara rolls her eyes, knowing the man didn’t believe a single word she’d said and that she’d have to keep up her insistence that she and Lena are just friends. But when she’s at her desk and Winn is turned away from her she can’t hide the smile that spread across her face, because Winn was right about one thing.

Lena had never stopped holding her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I technically posted this with two minutes to spare my time so it was still up for yesterday's tomorrow (that's really odd phrasing but i'm moving passed it). uhm yeah, this is setting some stuff up for later. next chapter has already been written and will be up tomorrow night. as always, drop a line let me know what you think.


	5. Not-So-Beautiful Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena has a nightmare..

Kara’s returning home much too late that night. There had been a scandal announced just before she was going to leave, needless to say she had stayed six hours later helping Cat with the crisis. In return, Cat had granted her tomorrow off, for which she was eternally grateful. On her way home she had texted Alex to tell her the good news; that they could spend the whole day marathoning any show or movies they pleased all while eating every last ounce of junk food. Her sister would be there in the early afternoon so that they could sort everything out, first Kara just had to finish some leftover paperwork and get some much needed rest. 

It’s around one in the morning when she hears the scream. It makes Kara’s blood run cold. Every hair on her body stands on end, her heart beats at an impossibly fast rate and she’s on her feet immediately. Because this wasn’t just any random scream coming from a few streets over, it was coming from next door. 

Kara moves so fast she’s almost flying, she’s out her door, in the hall, locating Lena’s spare key, unlocking her door, and entering the apartment in under a minute. She stands in the doorway frantically looking about. “Lena?” She calls. Kara doesn’t see any signs of distress or struggle in the living room or kitchen and, when she focuses her hearing, she doesn’t hear a strange heart beat. What she does hear are soft sobs coming directly from Lena’s room. Kara rushes in and sees Lena, she’s sitting in her bed, hand to her chest and fighting for air. Her normally pale skin is a ghastly white and there are visible tear tracks catching the moonlight from the window. Kara rushes over, at a human pace this time, and climbs onto the bed next to Lena. 

“Lena,” she whispers, touching the girls arm. “Lena, it’s me, Kara. Can you tell me what happened?” Despite the lack of any signs of a struggle, Kara is still somewhat convinced someone has hurt Lena. She lowers her glasses and quickly scans Lena for any sign of bodily harm, when she finds none she lets out an audible sigh. “Lena, can you look at me?” She whispers, tucking some of her friend’s hair behind her ear. “Lena?” The brunette turns to face Kara, startled that she’s even there. Her breathing and heart rate are still abnormally rapid and Kara moves closer. “I’m gonna hug you now, okay?” Lena’s eyes widen in terror and the blonde raises her palms in a sign of peace. “I’m not going to hurt you, it’s just that compression of the nerves will help your body switch from your sympathetic nervous system to your parasympathetic nervous system, or something like that. It helps calm you,” she waits until Lena gives her the smallest of nods. Then she engulfs her in two incredibly strong arms, careful not to squeeze her too hard. She resists for a moment or two and Kara wants to drop her arms away and try a different tactic, scared of breaking the woman’s trust, but then Lena falls into the embrace. After a few minutes Kara can hear the girl’s heartbeat slow and breathing stabilize. She’s still shaking as if she had just taken a snow bath, but Kara can feel how warm her flesh is. The blonde is worried, scared of what caused this reaction. “Lena, can you tell me what happened?” She watches as her friend begins to speak, but a sob is wretched from her lips instead. Lena has her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach, as if to shield or calm herself. Kara just pulls her closer. “Hey now, it’s okay, I’m here. I’ve got you.”

“H—he, he was _Lex_ again. It was my brother, he looked at me and told me that he was sorry and he love—loved me.” Kara begins to slowly rock Lena as she explains what happened in her dream. Kara’s heart aches for her, she remembers the deeply vivid dreams she used to have, right after she’d landed on Earth. Dreams of her parents screaming as fire consumed them while Kara watched on; dreams where she herself was there, the fire licking away at her skin and a searing pain consuming her. She knew what it was like to have dreams that brought your past to your present and she wanted so, so badly to take this pain away from Lena. “He was standing right in front of me, he was so close I could touch him. And when the wind blew he even _smelled_ like the old Lex. L—like butterscotch and spring, no—not like, like that chemically way he smells now. He kept apologizing, telling me he wanted to protect me, that he didn’t…he didn’t mean it,” she lets out another soft sob, her body still shaking in the blonde alien’s arms. “I wanted so badly to hug him, b—but I couldn’t.” She turns to face Kara with wide, wet, fearful eyes. “I—I had a gun in my hands. I was supposed to…to shoot him! He was begging and pleading and, and I shot him! I _killed_ him! I did it! Me! It’s _my fault_! And then this him, the monster him…he was there an—and he said that I was just like him. That I—I was horrible like him too.” Another round of sobs break through Lena’s small frame and Kara just rocks her softly, whispering sweetly to her.

“It’s okay.”

“I’ve got you.”

“I’m here.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“You are not your brother.”

When Lena still struggles to calm ten minutes later Kara let’s go of her. Lena is startled, but she continues cry. Kara moves from the bed and goes into the bathroom and wets a wash cloth with cold water. When she returns to the room, Lena is sobbing harder than before and Kara hastily climbs on the bed in front of her. She tilts the brunette’s chin up and begins to softly dab at her cheeks. “Focus on me,” Kara says. “Focus on the feeling of the cloth on your face, okay?” The brunette nods. “Can we try to do some breathing together?” Kara waits for the okay and then leads Lena through the same breathing exercises Alex used to do with her in the middle of the night. When she seems calm enough to speak Kara starts to ask her questions. “What are three things you can see?”

“The duvet. The building across the road. You, your eyes, they’re really blue.”

“What are three things you can hear?” Kara smiles encouragingly, having noticed that the brunette has stopped shaking. 

“The clock in the living room. A c—car alarm down on the street?” Kara nods when Lena looks at her for assurance. “And your voice, when you’re, uhm, talking. It’s soft and sweet, like honey.” 

“And three things you can feel?”

“The sheets. The cold cloth.” Lena pauses and reaches up to touch the hand Kara has against her cheek. “You, you’re hands are ridiculously soft and smooth.” She whispers. Kara smiles, Lena has calmed down almost completely, a few shaky breaths here and there, but okay. 

“You’re quite the charmer at one am,” Kara teases, removing the cloth from Lena’s face and instead taking her hand. Lena stifles out a laugh and looks down at their hands and then back up at Kara. 

“What can I say?” she whispers, voice hoarse from screaming and crying. “Kara, how did—?”

“I was still doing paperwork when I heard you screaming so I hunted down your spare key and ran over here. Sorry for sort of breaking in,” Kara shrugs, rubbing her neck with her free hand.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Lena says. She averts her eyes again. Kara finds she seems so small in this moment. Like the brunette has shrunken down to a small child. Kara then feels the desperate need to wrap her up in these blankets and never let her go. “ _I’m_ sorry for being such a mess these last two days.”

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. It happens to everyone, Lena. I want to be able to be here when you have nightmares and need help to calm down, okay? You’re not a burden to me, Lena.” Kara says, she reaches up to tuck Lena’s hair behind her ear, hand pausing to caress her cheek. “You’re my friend.” 

“It just—it was so _real_. Everything was so vivid, Kara, all of it was so life like and I couldn’t…” Kara hears her voice break and pulls her quickly into her arms.

“I know, Lena, I know.” The brunette cries into Kara’s shoulder for another few minutes before she pulls away. Lena is looking down at the duvet and something is burning in the back of Kara’s mind. She reaches forward and gently guides Lena’s chin up so that they’re looking at each other. “And Lena, you are _nothing_ like your brother and it is not your fault he is the way that he is.” She sighs and wipes the tears falling from Lena’s eyes with her thumb. “I know everyone acts like they have to walk on eggshells around you because they think that being siblings makes you the same, but they’re wrong. All of them.” She smiles softly and continues to stroke Lena’s cheek. The tears are still falling, but they’re silent. Kara thinks that’s worse than the sobbing and shaking, she can calm that, help her relax, but these kind of tears you can’t stop. Kara knows that, she’s dealt with them many times, at home, in school. Usually, she just lets them run their course, but seeing them stain Lena’s face hurts her in an unimaginable way. “But I know who you are and you would never do anything to hurt someone. Not like that, not on purpose. You have a light inside you, Lena Luthor. You are better than them. You are smart and kind and so, so brave. I see _you_ , Lena. Even if those people can’t, or if you can’t, I do. And I’ll always be here to remind you of that, okay?” 

The brunette nods and launches herself into Kara’s arms again. Muttering thank you’s into her neck as Kara rocks her back and forth. When Lena pulls back again it’s with a wet laugh and to hastily wipe at her eyes. “God, Kara, I’m sorry you have to deal with this.” Kara shakes her head again and reaches up to squeeze Lena’s arm.

“Well, I’m not. I’m here for you, completely put together or falling apart in the middle of the night.” She offers Lena a soft smile. She then notices the cloth just sitting on Lena’s bed, she takes it in her hands and removes herself from her spot on the bed.

“Where—?” The brunette begins. There’s panic in her voice and Kara turns to easily soothe it.

“I’m just going to put this cloth back in the bathroom so it can dry and then I’ll be right back. I won’t leave.” She promises. Kara moves as quickly as she can without seeming suspicious and she’s back in Lena’s room in moments. “Now, you need sleep, because the human body isn’t supposed to run without it.” She climbs into bed next to Lena and lays down beside her, abandoning her glasses on the side table. “To sleep one typically lays down.” Kara quips when she sees Lena staring at her.

“I feel bad asking you to stay two nights in a row,” the brunette whispers. The alien raises herself so that she’s sitting next to Lena and looks her in the eye.

“You’re not asking, I just decided I’m staying because you shouldn’t be alone right now.” Kara says, smiling gently.

“But—”

“Lena?”

“Yes, Kara?”

“Do you want me to stay?” Lena bites her bottom lip and nods reaching for Kara’s hand. “Then I’m staying. Besides,” the blonde trails off until green eyes meet hers and she grins. “Your bed is _way_ more comfortable than mine.” The other woman laughs briefly before staring intently into Kara’s eyes. 

“You look different without your glasses on,” she whispers, reaching up to softly brush her thumb along Kara’s brow bone before tucking a loose strand of sun kissed hair behind her ear. The contact fills Kara with an electric sort of energy and sets off an entire zoo in her belly. Her eyes flutter closed briefly before she meets Lena’s gaze again. 

“Bad different?”

“No, no, it’s not good or bad. Just…different, less sweet and innocent, but braver somehow.” Lena pauses for a moment and leans forward. Kara feels every bone in her body scream and sing simultaneously. Lena leans close to her ear and whispers, voice still rough and hoarse. “Thank you, Kara. For everything.” Kara thinks that will be it, but when Lena goes to move back she presses a kiss to her cheek. The alien stops breathing for several moments and the “innocent peck” to her cheek drags on much too long for it to be considered either innocent or a peck. Kara’s cheeks are heating up under the soft, gentle pressure of Lena’s lips and when she finally pulls away the two hold each other’s gaze.

“Not a—,” Kara is shocked by how gravelly her own voice sounds and immediately clears her throat. “Not a problem.” She responds, even if Kara had been blind she would have been able to feel the emotion and genuine care Lena’s smile expressed. The brunette finally lays down then and Kara follows suit, realizing that now may be a good time to start breathing again. 

They lay curled up on their sides, facing each other with their hands in the centre. Lena slowly reaches forward and locks their fingers together, something Kara hoped would become a natural occurrence for the two. It’s silent for a moment, but the sound of Lena’s heart incredibly loud in her head helps her relax. She can sense the change in Lena’s breathing and knows that her friend is close to sleep too. 

“Kara?”

“Yes, Lena?”

“Try not to knock me out of bed tomorrow morning, okay?” Kara lets out a soft laugh and nods.

“I’ll do my very best.” They both fall asleep shortly after, hands clasped in front of them, both peaceful and calm.

~~~

When the sun softly filters through the window, Kara wakes. It a gentle and soft awakening and she feels heavy with warmth inside. The night before, she’d fallen asleep with only her hands entangled with Lena’s, but now they’ve become a giant mess of tangled limbs. Kara isn’t entirely sure which legs are hers, but she does know that the hair tickling her nose is roughly seventy shades darker than her own. She was really gonna have to talk to Lena about the magic of sleeping with your hair in a bun if they were going to continue with these little sleepovers. Kara smiles despite herself cause she sure as hell hopes they do.

She wants to stay in this moment forever, Lena fast asleep against her chest, half on top of her, legs tangled all as one, warm and soft and peaceful all at once. But of course, just when Kara thinks she couldn’t be anymore more comfortable ever in her life, her bladder flares to life telling Kara that she needs to go and _now_. She groans softly and begins to detangle herself from Lena and climb out of bed. For all of the wonderful things her alien DNA has blessed her with on Earth, a bladder of steel is not one of them. She rushes to the bathroom and by the time she’s done, Kara is _awake_. 

The blonde wanders over to the kitchen and decides that, if anything, she could at least make breakfast again.

~~~

Kara is halfway through making a third omelette when she hears a voice behind her. “Kara?”

The blonde turns around quickly spatula raised ready to face whoever it is, only to see Lena. The blonde looks at the other woman in utter disbelief. “You’re up, before your alarm? What kind of sorcery is this?” She chides, smile on her face. The brunette shakes her head and moves to stand next to her. 

“Must have been the incredible smell of whatever it was you were cooking,” she murmurs looking over her shoulder.

“You have a surprisingly low refrigerator content, so I made ham and cheese omelettes. Because eggs, ham, and cheese were the only things you had.” Kara says raising and eyebrow at her. Lena of course rolls her eyes. “There’s a cup of coffee for you on the island.” At the sound of the necessity Lena runs over. A few seconds later Kara hears the smack of skin hitting marble followed by a low moan. She turns around, curious as to what the hell was going on, and sees Lena sitting on the counter and sipping her coffee. It’s so innocent that Kara wonders if she had ever done this before when she was younger, jump on the counter watching as someone cooked her breakfast. The thought makes her smile. She turns back to the stove and the cheesy omelette cooking there, everything is silent and peaceful and Kara thinks she could definitely get used to this.

“For a moment there, when I first woke up, I thought I had dreamed it all.” Kara turns slightly, looking at Lena with a small smile.

“Well, I did make you coffee and breakfast two days in a row so I am kind of a dream come true.” The blonde teases. This of course makes the brunette roll her eyes again. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Lena mutters. Kara hears a soft thumping behind her, telling her that Lena is likely kicking the cabinets below the countertop.“But then I, uhm, I’d thought you’d left.” The blonde knows that if it weren’t for her super-hearing she would have missed Lena’s words all together. Instead she plates the omelette, grabs Lena a fork, and passes her the plate.

“Well, I didn’t, I’m still here.” She says softly. “And if for some reason I ever have to leave in the middle of the night I’ll wake you or leave a note or something.” The blonde barely thinks anything about using the future tense and as she turns back around, going to fetch her own coffee that she left abandoned by the stove, she can’t see Lena’s grin.

“You will?” She mutters, hiding her smile behind her coffee mug when the blonde turns back around.

“Of course I will, but on one condition.”

“What’s that?” Kara begins smirking before she even speaks.

“Your hair is lovely, really, but if we’re gonna keep having sleepovers you’re gonna have to tie it up at night. You may have to acquaint yourself with the likes of a bun or braid.” The brunette laughs and Kara sips at her coffee, smug as ever.

“Okay, deal. But when exactly will I have to learn these ridiculously complicated tasks by?” Kara shrugs and hums for a moment before grinning.

“Next Friday, we can have a wine and crappy movie night at my place!” The blonde is practically bouncing in her excitement and there’s no way Lena could deny her at this moment.

“Next Friday it is,” the woman whispers, smiling.

~~~

Kara stays with Lena until she leaves for work, which Lena insists is unnecessary, but Kara does it anyway. They hug each other goodbye and Lena heads for the elevator, as poised and composed as ever, and Kara sets off towards her own apartment, barefoot and in an old t-shirt from high school. She’s too dazed from what she’s now referring to post-sleepover bliss to notice that anything is amiss.

Until Alex jumps up from the couch. “Kara, where have you been?” The blonde lets out a squeal that could belong to a four year old girl and jumps back into the now closed door.

“Rao, Alex, maybe warn a girl before yelling at her?” She says, hand to her chest. The blonde begins to cross the room towards her sister with a raised eyebrow. “And weren’t you supposed to come over around twelve anyway?” She asks crossing her arms. The eldest Danvers gestures frustratedly around the room.

“Well, yeah, but I felt bad about our fight and I didn’t want to wait so I just came here after my shift and figured I’d just get some sleep here, but you,” Alex points very deliberately at Kara here and the blonde takes a half step backwards. “You were AWOL!” She exclaims, Kara can’t help the small smile that forms on her face and nods.

“I hated that we were fighting too,” the eldest Danvers looks up at the soft tone and is hit with classic Puppy Danvers eyes. 

“Oh no, not that, I’m mad again cause you—you scared the crap out of me! And wherever you were you didn’t take your phone and—,” Alex lets out a long sigh and then opens her arms. “C’mere.” Kara runs over and the two share a long crushing hug.

“I know that you just wanna protect me, Alex. But I really don’t need protection from Lena. I know her, really, really well and she’s not like that. She doesn’t want to be anything like her brother either.” She mumbles into her sisters shoulder. Most people couldn’t have deciphered the jumbled mess of words she had spoken, but Alex, though she doesn’t have super hearing, is fluent in Kara. 

“I know, and I know I don’t know Lena, at all, but I trust you, Kara.” The blonde pulls away with a humongous grin on her face. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to protect you from her.” Kara’s grin drops for a half second, ready to argue with her sister again when Alex beats her to the chase. “Not because her last name is Luthor, because it’s very obvious how you feel about her and I don’t want my little sister getting hurt.”

Kara blushes a bright pink and opens her mouth a few times before finding the right words to settle on. “I, uh, there’s spinach in your teeth.” 

The brunette tilts her head and looks at her little sister, “Kara.”

“Okay, there’s not, I don’t know why I said that.” She huffs out. “Is it really that obvious?” She sighs. The brunette snorts.

“Kara, NASA contacted me saying they could see your ginormous crush on Lena from space.” The blonde rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at her sister while she laughs at her own joke. It’s a few minutes before Alex offers to go order a pizza and the littlest Danvers nods, heading to the couch to find something to watch.

“So, are you gonna tell me where you were this morning?”

“Lena’s,” she answers, scanning through the New Releases category on Netflix.

“That early in the morning?” A mischievous plot plants itself in Kara’s head and she fine tunes her super-hearing so that she’s sure the phone is dialling before she calls out to Alex.

“No actually, I was there all night.” The blonde turns half heartedly on the couch and continues. “Lena sleeps in shorts that are shorter than the ones you used to play volleyball in, I didn’t think that was even possible cause those things were barely there.” Kara calls out. 

“Wait, you slept over?”

“Yeah, why?” Kara asks, trying her best not to laugh.

“Like in her apartment?”

“Yeah, in her bed and everything. Last night and the night before,” she says.

“You slept over _twice_!?” Alex exclaims. Kara turns when she hears the telltale click of the other line picking up and the monotone voice on the other end begins tell her about the specials. “Hang on a sec, my sister slept over twice!”

“Alex, are you okay? Are you gonna be able to place the order?” The blonde tilts her head, a trickle of actual concern for her sister filtering in and, of course, concern over whether or not she’d be fed.

“Slept over, you, twice,” Alex mutters softly to herself. Kara turns back to the TV.

“Hey, there’s this new show on Netflix, _Homeland_ , wanna watch it?”

“Twice,” that’s it, Alex is officially broken. When Kara hears the line go dead on the other end of the phone she throws herself back against the couch and groans. She was going to starve to death.

“Is that all you can say?”

“How?” Kara turns around at an actual word other than you, slept, over, and twice coming from her sister. She kneels on the couch and shrugs at her sister.

“Actually order the pizza and maybe I can catch you up on what you’ve missed the last thirty-six hours.” Kara ducks quickly when the phone is tossed at her head.

“You’re really thinking about food right now?” 

“I’m hungry and need sustenance in order to tell you what happened.” All is quiet for a moment and Kara flashes the puppy dog eyes for the second time that hour. Alex gets defensive immediately.

“Oh, no, not that again! Kara, that’s not fair.” Seconds later, Alex is stomping back over to where her phone was haphazardly tossed mumbling about pain in the ass alien sisters and their girl drama. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so there's the update! thank you all for your comments, I'm so glad you're enjoying this story it makes me so happy to be able to write it!! there are some questions about where this is gonna go later on, but all I'm going to say is that only time will tell. Next chapter should be up by Saturday/Sunday :)


	6. Wine and Movies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena knows Cat and Kara and Lena have their movie night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really tired so I probably didn't edit this well, but here it is. Sorry if it's not great.

The days fly by for Kara, filled with countless coffee runs and innumerous impossible tasks. She’s entirely drained by the time Friday rolls around. She finds herself running through tasks just counting down the time until her movie night with Lena. Telling herself that it was a totally normal friend thing to be excited to see each other and know how long it would be, to the exact second, until you saw them again. The blonde brushed it off and tried to shake the ticking clock from her head. Kara is trying so hard to focus on her paperwork that she doesn’t hear the fast approaching footsteps towards her desk. In fact, the blonde only looks up when she hears Winn call out.

“Hey, Lena! What’re you doing here?” Kara’s head snaps up and, sure enough, the raven-haired beauty is walking her way.

“Oh you know, business,” she says with a halfhearted shrug. Kara immediately notices a change in her demeanour. This isn’t her neighbour and best friend who laughs at inappropriate times during movies or has _Summer Lovin’_ as her ringtone. This is Lena Luthor, business woman, engineer, lethal. Kara straightens in her seat trying to ignore the rush of butterflies in her stomach. 

“Are you here to see Miss Grant?” She asks weakly. Lena merely nods her head, stepping much to close to Kara’s desk.

“I am,” the woman replies. Lena casts a glance towards Cat’s glass office and, seeing that the woman is enthralled with her computer, she softens. Kara notices that the small, soft smile she gives her is 100% Lena. The blonde finds herself relaxing and smiling back at her. 

“Unscheduled?” Kara shakes her head and let’s out a short trio of tsk’s. “Miss Grant is a busy woman, most of her meetings are scheduled by me you know. It may have been helpful to call.” She teases, adjusting her glasses and leaning backwards in her seat. The brunette smirks and tilts her head.

“Yes, well, she actually called me today to tell me that _she’d_ like to interview me. Didn’t she tell you?” Kara feels her stomach drop and gulps audibly. She feels a small hint of fear itching at her bones and shakes her head.

“N-no, she didn’t,” Kara says. Her voice is dripping with the concern she feels. Cat is an incredible interviewer, she can pull secrets and stories out of anyone. And even if Lena has been giving interviews her entire life the past reporters were nothing compared to Cat Grant. 

The brunette leans in closer to the desk, sensing Kara’s concern.

“I’ll be fine, Kara, trust me.” And she does, of course Kara trusts her, she just doesn’t think anyone could hide something from the Queen of all Media. “I do, however, need to be back at work soon, so if you could…” She trails off and noticeably looks in the direction of Cat’s office. The blonde immediately jumps up, nodding her head.

“Yes, of course, just one moment.” Kara rushes around her desk and tentatively knocks before walking into Cat’s office. “Uh, Miss Grant, Miss Luthor is here to see you. She says you called her today about an interview?” Kara asks, hoping that it’s all some big misunderstanding.

“Yes, Keira, send her in.” The older woman replies, standing and moving from behind her desk. Kara can feel her blood run cold. 

“Would you like me to take notes for you, Miss Grant?” 

“That won’t be necessary, Keira. Just go get our guest, would you?” The blonde frantically nods and exits the office walking straight to Lena. 

“She’s uh, ready for you. Good luck?” Kara whispers, gesturing to the office. The green eyed girl turns back into the powerful business woman and shoots the blonde a smirk.

“I won’t need it,” and with that she turns on her incredibly high heels and marches into the office. Kara is left watching as she retreats and then staring inside. She can feel herself fiddling with her hands and rocking on her heels. The blonde is torn between using her super hearing to listen in on the discussion or if that would be considered an invasion of privacy. While she stands there, nervous and unsure, Winn walks over to her.

“Maybe we should go get coffee?” The blonde turns at the odd offer and her friend just shrugs. “Might keep you from staring into Cat’s office like a lost puppy.” Kara’s jaw drops and she crosses her arms.

“I am so not doing that,” she replies, offended.

“Oh, Kara, you so are. C’mon, by the time we get back they’ll probably be done. It’s not like you can hear what they’re saying now, anyway,” he tentatively wraps an arm around Kara’s shoulders and leads her towards the elevators. Kara clamps her eyes shut and nods, Lena will tell her all about it later anyway.

When Kara and Winn return ten minutes later, Lena is nowhere to be found and Cat is sitting pensively on her couch. The blonde softly enters the office and stands in front of her. “I got you a coffee, Miss Grant.” She says, offering it to her boss. It seems only once Kara has spoken Cat even realizes she’s there.

“Just put it on the table,” the blonde does as she’s told and goes to leave when her boss calls for her. “You may have been right, Keira.” Kara freezes and tilts her head. Unsure exactly what she’s done right, but more than happy about the praise.

“A—about what, Miss Grant?” She asks, shifting her glasses further up her nose. Cat continues to stare off and taps the tail of her glasses against her chin.

“That Luthor girl, she’s…interesting,” the older woman finally turns to look at her. “Schedule lunch with her sometime next week, whenever she’s free. I don’t care who or what you have to cancel.” Kara nods and waits for another order, but instead Cat just raises her eyebrows at her. “Chop, chop, Keira, I gave you an order.” With that the young woman leaves her office quickly, sitting down at her desk a bit dazed. She quickly takes out her phone to text Lena, confused about the interaction she just had with her boss.

_What happened with Miss Grant?? She’s acting all weird now.._

Kara waits for a response, seeing the three dots crop up immediately after the read receipt comes through. She waits for what feels like eternity before a reply filters through.

_Nothing, I’ll tell you later. And weird how?Is she making you run across the city or something?_

Kara rolls her eyes at the vague response, but continues nonetheless.

_No, she wants to schedule lunch with you next week?? And she said I was right about something?!_

Her response comes quickly.

_Wednesday at 1 is fine, I’ll let my assistant know. I have to work now so I’ll see you later._

Kara leans back in her desk chair, utterly confused. She knows she’ll have her explanation soon enough, but Kara has never been a patient person and this may actually kill her. 

~~~

When Kara returns home that night she does it while balancing three different bags. One brown paper bag filled to the brim with Chinese food, and at least two orders of potstickers, one plastic bag filled with chips and chocolate, and another brown paper bag sporting two bottles of her favourite wine. She makes her way down the hall trying to keep everything in her arms and not on the floor. When she reaches her door she realizes she has made one fatal error, her keys are buried deep in her purse and she has no hands to reach for them. “Dammit,” she mutters. The blonde tries to set down the bag with the wine, but when the food almost falls she quickly forgets that plan. With a sigh she looks over at Lena’s door and walks over. Gently, she reaches out and kicks Lena’s door. It makes enough noise that if her friend is home, which she should be, she’ll hear and come open the door. Kara waits for her to answer and does a 360 of the apartment hallway. When she hears the apartment door open, she’s facing the opposite wall and immediately turns to face Lena. 

“Hey Lena, do you think you could give me a hand?” But when Kara actually sees the person in front of her it isn’t Lena at all. Instead it’s a very pretty woman, shorter than Kara, with long red hair, piercing eyes, a striking figure, and, as she reveals moments later, an award winning smile. “Oh, you’re not Lena.”

“No,” she laughs and even that’s wonderful. “She’s just changing, I’m sure she’ll be out in a sec.” The woman calls for her over her shoulder and Kara continues to stand there, slightly uncomfortable. “Are you locked out or something?” She asks. Kara, unsure of how to explain her predicament, just nods her head. “Do you want me to take something for you?” Kara almost rolls her eyes at how utterly polite the woman is, because of course she’s nice, and instead just gives her a polite smile in return.

“No, it’s okay. Thanks, though,” the blonde wonders if the tension in the hallway is tangible. She can certainly feel it eating at her skin. Thankfully Lena appears moments later.

“Who is it, Steph?” Kara finds that rubbing against her the wrong way; the way Lena shortens her name in familiarity. Kara gnaws on her bottom lip uncomfortable with the situation she’s found herself in. She wonders who this Steph girl is and exactly how she knew Lena. Kara could almost call this burning curiosity jealousy, if it weren’t for the fact that they were just friends. “Oh, Kara, hey!” Lena says, finally seeing her friend. 

“Oh, so that’s Kara,” the woman, Steph, says under her breath. It’s loud enough for Lena to pick up and Kara notices the way she slightly nudges the other woman. “I’m Steph, Lena’s friend. It’s nice to meet you.”

The blonde smiles politely again, scrunching her nose slightly. “Kara, Lena’s friend from next door.”

“I was just on my way over,” Lena says with a soft smile. Steph looks in between them and smiles.

“And I was just on my way out.” Kara watches as the redhead leans into Lena’s apartment and grabs a ring of keys before tossing them at Lena and grabbing her own purse. She then exits the apartment, pulling Lena out with her, and closing the door. “It was nice to see you, Lena.” The woman smiles, and Kara can’t help but be glad that she’s leaving. She watches the woman walk away and then she and Lena are left in silence.

“Here, let me grab that,” when the brunette leans forward Kara lets her take the bag of wine.

“I, uhm, can’t reach my keys,” Kara tells her. She swings her purse to the front of her body and Lena lets out a soft laugh. She steps closer to Kara so that she’s in her personal space, and smiles.

“Just what am I going to do with you?” Kara can smell Lena’s shampoo from how close she’s standing to her and the blonde tries desperately not to let on how much that affects her. After a few moments Lena reaches into Kara’s bag and fishes out her keys. When she pulls away it takes Kara a few moments to pull herself together and follow after her. 

“So, uhm, who was that?” Kara asks, the question burning deep inside her. Lena fiddles with Kara’s keys, trying to figure out which is the right one. “It’s the pink one.” At this her friend rolls her eyes and singles out the key.

“Of course it is,” she mumbles opening the door for Kara. “And Steph? She's just an old friend from college. She was in town so I invited her out for coffee after work, we got to talking and ended up back here.” The blonde nods her head along to Lena’s explanation. 

“That’s nice.” She crosses to the island and sets the two remaining bags down. Lena follows suit and, while Kara begins to remove the food, she takes a bottle of wine and pours them two glasses. 

“Yeah, it was,” Lena says, passing her a glass. “Stephanie’s always a laugh.” Kara feels an itch at the back of her neck when she realizes that Steph is, in fact, a nickname Lena used for her supposed friend; an itch she refuses to acknowledge. 

Kara looks up because the sudden itch reminds her of another one that’s been bothering her since that morning. “What went down with you and Miss Grant?” Kara doesn’t notice that Lena is mid drink until she nearly chokes on the wine. Kara mutters out a hasty apology and moves around the island to get them both plates.

“Well, you cut right to the chase, don’t you?” The blonde pauses, wondering exactly how to respond. She just shrugs her shoulders and passes Lena a plate. “What no, ‘how was your day, dear? Invent anything wild today?’” And though she knows Lena is teasing her, Kara’s heart lightens at the term of endearment. A theory,however, does form in her mind and she decides to test it out.

“How was your day, dear? Invent anything wild today?” She asks, in the same Stepford wife tone Lena used and it turns out Kara’s theory was correct; saying the word dear felt just as good as hearing it.

Lena, of course, rolls her eyes and begins piling food on her plate. Kara quickly jumps in as well, making sure she gets plenty of pot stickers. “Cat runs in the same social circles as my parents. There was a time, long ago, when they invested in CatCo, so I often saw Cat around at social gatherings and such when I was little. We’d even have brunch at her home in Metropolis sometimes.” Lena looks up at Kara and smiles. “She was my favourite out of all my parents’ friends because she never treated me like some stupid little kid. Same with my brother, she was always really kind to us. Then my parents were my parents and Cat moved to National City and I didn’t see her again until just after high school, after Lex had gone mad. Her and my mother fought and that was the last I saw of her until today.

“When she started asking me about Lex it was unsettling, obviously, and then she asked me if I was surprised that he had ended up this way!” Kara immediately reaches forward to grasp Lena’s hand, running a soothing thumb over her skin. “It wasn’t that I couldn’t believe she’d ask me that, but I was certainly taken aback. I mean she’d known Lex too, before he was like that. She's known him as a kid. So I turned the question around on her, asked if she was surprised. Asked whether or not she saw it coming when he was eating waffles on her terrace. She didn’t have an answer so I told her I had to get back to work and I left.” Lena shrugs, looking down at her plate of food. She takes a large bite of chicken and Kara just stares at her.

“So then why’d you agree to have lunch with her?” Kara asks, her own food long forgotten.

“Because she’s Cat Grant, I’m not stupid enough to make her my enemy. Besides, she was one of the only adults that was nice to me when I was a kid, it’s nice to hold onto.” She looks up at Kara with a hint of a smile pulling at her lips. “You know she taught me how to give a proper interview when I was seven.” Kara bursts into laughter at this. She can picture it perfectly, a small Lena sitting on a couch next to Cat who’s firing practice questions at her. 

“I would pay to see that,” Kara manages through a cluster of giggles. Lena laughs for a moment too before turning completely serious. She stands from the stool she’d been sitting on and crosses to Kara. When she stands close to her the blonde stops laughing immediately. Her breathing quickens, Lena’s close enough that she would barely need to lean forward to kiss her. The brunette slowly places a hand against Kara’s forehead, biting her lip. An action that effectively pulls Kara’s attention away from Lena’s striking eyes. “Wh—what’re you doing?” Kara says shakily. The brunette can no longer contain her smile as it spreads across her face.

“Checking your temperature,” she whispers.

“Wh—why?” Kara chokes out, she thinks she may spontaneously combust with the way Lena’s looking at her.

“It’s been almost fifteen minutes and you haven’t even touched your food,” Lena lets out a laugh as realization walks across Kara’s face. The blonde swats at her friend’s arm and rolls her eyes as she laughs.

“Shut up, I’m fine.” 

“I dunno,” Lena says returning to her seat. “You seem a little hot to me.” Kara thought she may spontaneously combust before, but with that phrase and the wink Lena sends her at the end of it all, Kara’s surprised she hasn’t already dissolved into flames.

~~~

Nearly all of the Chinese food is gone by the time the two finally decide to start watching movies. Kara’s still nursing her first glass of wine, while Lena has just finished her second. The blonde is currently preparing the snacks needed for the movie. She carries the bowls of chips and candy over to the table and sees that Lena’s already refilled her own glass and topped of hers. “Maybe you should slow down there, Lena,” the brunette turns to her, green eyes peering over the rim of her glass. Kara gives her a sweet smile before sitting down next to her.

“I’ve had to deal with a bunch of middle aged white boys telling me that I’m either too stupid to be an engineer because I’m a woman, or that I’m just not as smart as they are. I deserve this,” she says. Kara shakes her head. 

“Aren’t you their boss? Couldn’t you fire them all for insubordination or something? Hire a new team of forward thinking people,” Kara suggests, picking up her own glass and leaning against the cushions of the couch.

Lena shrugs. “Maybe one day, when I’m CEO, but for now I just have to suck it up and drive on.”Kara looks over at Lena, imagining her running the entirety of Luthor Corp. It brings a smile to her face, she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lena would make the company a shining light in this sometimes dark world, a beacon of safety, and she wants that for Lena. She wants people to stop saying her name with dread and contempt, wants people to treat her with the respect she's earned. “Quit staring and pick a movie,” Kara immediately feels her cheeks heat up at the words. She starts spluttering through a reply and Lena just rolls her eyes. “It’s fine, Kara, I think we should watch that one.” 

The blonde ignores all the feelings screaming in her mind that Lena knows about her ridiculously huge crush on her, that she should apologize and promise that she thinks of Lena as nothing more than a friend, and she clicks on _The Parent Trap_ and the two begin their movie night.

Halfway through the third movie both bottles of wine are gone and Lena has moved to cuddle contentedly into Kara’s side. It makes her heart skip several beats, the level of intimacy she and Lena have fostered without it ever actually being intimate. So much so that Lena barely hesitates, even when drunk, to grab Kara’s hand or rest her hand on her thigh, and it always just feels so natural. Drunk Lena, though, is a far cry from the brunette’s normal demeanour.

Kara finds that she makes comments a lot more, her laughter comes easier, quicker, and it’s softer in a way. During the last movie she even made Kara pause it so that she could yell, half at the tv and half to Kara, about all of the scientific errors that had been made. The blonde partially understood what she was saying, until she started talking about math and then Kara was completely lost. Aside from the scientific remarks, Lena also made a lot of sex jokes. It made the alien laugh, this side of her friend so foreign to her; so new and open and very, very unlike Lena. As the movie's credits draw to a close, Kara moves to go put on another one, but a hand on her arm stops her. The brunette sits up and faces Kara, a very serious look on her face. “Kara, were you jealous of Steph earlier?” And bold. Drunk Lena is definitely very, very _bold_.

Kara opens and closes her mouth a few times unsure of how to respond to the question. She wonders if she had been that obvious, had been so blatantly uncomfortable with the situation that Lena had picked up on it, but only felt the need to confront her about it now. “Cause you shouldn’t be! She’s married, not that you’d be jealous if you thought that we were together!” The brunette rushes to cover up and Kara wishes she could cover up the bright red blush on her cheeks right now. She pretends not to notice the way her shoulders roll back in relief. “Cause, uhm, well, we’re _friends_ , but I know that people get, uh, _friend_ jealous sometimes. And I just wanted you to know you don’t have to be _friend_ jealous of her. Cause she’s not really a real friend!” Lena boasts, her grin is wide and she looks content with her explanation, but Kara is completely lost.

“I don’t…I don’t understand.” She watches the brunette drop her head into her hands and groan before snapping back up and sighing.

“It’s like you’re my real friend cause you’re there for me always and stuff, but she’s—she’s like…,” the blonde watches as the wheels turn in her friend’s head trying to find an accurate way to describe Stephanie. “Professor Slughorn!” Kara has to bite her lip to keep herself from falling over with laughter. The look of utter pride on Lena’s face for having found her answer is absolutely adorable, but the blonde never would have expected it to be a Harry Potter reference.

“What?” The blonde asks, trying again to hold her laughter in. 

“Yeah, like he collects students who’ll be great so he can take credit she—she collects famous friends! Just so she can say she knows us! So I go out for coffee with her when she’s in town and we smile and the press gets a photo and she’s the talk of her little suburban town because she knows _Lena Luthor_!! And that makes her happy and she was once a good friend, so yeah! No reason to be jealous, friend or otherwise!” The way drunk Lena rambles makes Kara grin.

“I’m not jealous of her, Lena.”

“Good,” Lena boasts. She moves closer to Kara, even though they’re already sitting very close together. “Cause you’re like my only friend in National City, or like, my only friend, period. And I just—I love you so much, Kara.” The blonde grins, the entire world around her feels like it’s stopped spinning and she knows that, even if it’s only platonically, she’ll do anything to hear her say those words again.

“I love you too, Lena,” and she does. Lena has slowly become her best friend and she knows she can’t live without her. The brunette grins, they hold each other’s gaze for a moment, happy in the silence.

“Kara?”

“Yes, Lena?”

“Have you ever kissed a girl?” Scratch that, drunk Lena is _very, very, very bold_. Kara feels her face and neck heating up, she looks down at her hands, suddenly unsure of what to do with herself in her friend’s presence.

“Yeah,” Kara replies, eyes darting up to connect with green one’s. At the sight of Lena’s smirk though they jump right back to her hands.

“Did you like it?” Again, Kara is at a loss for words. The air in the room is thick, she has no idea why Lena is asking all of these questions. Kara knows she could shut this down, change the subject, put another movie on, get _out_ of this situation. But she doesn’t, instead she takes a deep breath, musters up any and all courage she has left and looks Lena in the eye.

“Yes.”

“Have you ever thought about kissing me?” Kara isn’t sure bold is how she would describe drunk Lena anymore. She has surpassed that level and moved far beyond it. Kara opens her mouth and closes it again. Now she’s wishing she’d gotten herself out of this before, but as Lena shifts closer all thoughts die in her mind except for one. There is the distinguishing sound of a rapidly beating heart and Kara’s trying to sort out if it’s hers or Lena’s. “Cause I’ve thought about kissing you.” Now she knows it’s _definitely_ Lena’s cause hers has stopped completely. “I think about kissing you a lot actually. When we’re on the couch and watching a movie, or when I say something stupid and you laugh, or when you’re rambling, when we’re out and when we’re here or at my place, when we’re cuddling on the couch or you’re holding my hand, every time you make breakfast in the morning and _coffee_ , once when I woke up before you and saw how peaceful you were when you were asleep, right now.” Lena whispers the last two words and Kara shifts forwards. “Sometimes I think you might wanna kiss me too, but you never do.” The blonde feels her breath leave her body, her eyes dart from Lena’s eyes to her lips and she thinks they should definitely not be having this conversation while Lena is clearly not thinking straight. She decides then this needs to stop, they need to sleep and talk about this tomorrow.

“Lena, I—,” and before Kara can finish what she’s about to say Lena’s lips are on hers. Kara thinks it’s everything she expected it would be. She can feel the world spinning beneath her feet. Lena’s lips are soft, but firm as they press against hers. Kara hesitates for only a moment before kissing her back. The blonde moves her hand to gently rest on Lena’s leg while the woman threads her fingers through her hair. She doesn’t know who deepens the kiss, but suddenly Lena’s tongue is in her mouth and Kara thinks this may be better than flying. She tastes like mint and something sweet and, of course, the wine they’ve been drinking tonight.

It’s the last item that has Kara pulling away quickly. Lena sighs at the loss and opens her eyes after a short moment. “We should go to bed.” The blonde says quickly, trying to create distance between them, but somehow Lena had pressed her up against the arm of the sofa without her noticing. 

“Well, that was quick,” the woman remarks. Kara’s eyes go wide and she holds her open palms out in front of her as Lena leans forward again. 

“No, no, not like that,” Kara squeaks. She finally shifts and jumps up from the couch. The alien begins pacing back and forth and shaking her head. “I mean to sleep, you’re drunk Lena an—and we shouldn’t have done this and—,” Kara’s cut off by the sound of a sharp breath.

“Oh my god, I’ve ruined everything! Again! I just destroyed our friendship because I—, God I’m so stupid!” The blonde looks and sees her friend cradling her head in her hands. It breaks her heart.“No, Lena, you’re not stupid. You didn’t ruin anything, I swear.” Kara sighs, reaching up to remove her glasses and rub at her eyes. “We should just sleep and then talk in the morning.” She can feel something crawling into her throat at the thought that their friendship would never ever be the same.

“Kara, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—I’m so sorry, I have ruined everything.” Lena looks like she's close to tears and she jumps up from the couch. Kara’s heart drops into her stomach. “I should just go, I’m sorry, can we just pretend this never happened? Please and I’ll—I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” The brunette turns to leave then and Kara can feel the tears bubbling in her throat. She can’t just accept that and let it go. Not this time. She reaches for Lena’s wrist and grasps it gently. Turning her friend around she makes a split second decision and reaches up to thread her fingers through Lena’s hair and pull her close to press their lips together again. It’s soft and slow, Kara can feel Lena’s lip trembling as they kiss. A hot tear sticks to her cheek and she can’t tell if it’s Lena’s or hers. When they pull apart, they press their foreheads together both breathing and crying for what they refuse to lose.

“Don’t leave,” Kara whispers, voice hoarse and shaking.

“Okay.”

“We should just sleep.” The blonde whispers, keeping her eyes closed. She feels Lena nodding against her forehead and she stands up straight. 

“Can we still cuddle?” Lena asks, looking up at her with wide green eyes. Kara sniffles once and with it she pushes everything from her mind except this moment.

“No funny business,” she says as a weak attempt to lighten the mood. The blonde smiles down at her and the brunette just shakes her head.

“No, no, I just—need to be close to you right now.” Kara can see her eyes watering again and feel hers doing the same so she just nods and takes Lena’s hand. She leads her over to her room and they both climb into bed quickly. The brunette wastes no time curling into her side and Kara wraps her arms tightly around her. They stay like that and both find it incredibly easy to become sleepy in each other’s arms. “Kara?”

“Yes, Lena?”

“I can’t wait to kiss you again tomorrow,” she mumbles sleepily. The blonde finds herself grinning and pressing a soft kiss to Lena’s hair.

“Me either.” Kara can feel a voice in the back of her head screaming that there’s no going back now and she can’t help but smile. There isn’t a single bone in Kara’s body that wants to go backwards with Lena, but every single one of them wants to go forward. Every single one wants to kiss her on Sunday mornings and Tuesday afternoons and Thursday evenings and every other time on every other day for a very, very long time. 

~~~

When Kara wakes up the next morning, she thinks it’s all a dream. She pulls herself out of Lena’s arms and makes her way to the kitchen wondering how the dream had been so real, so vivid. She swears she could feel tears on her cheek at one point. It’s not until Kara sees the two completely empty wine bottles sitting on her counter that she realizes it was all _real_. Lena had kissed her and then she had kissed Lena and then they had gone to bed so that they could talk today. She felt herself screaming on the inside because it all meant one very important thing. Lena must have feelings for her too. 

The blonde, with an entirely too large grin on her face, sets to work making coffee. Moments after it finishes brewing and Kara has poured two mugs full, Lena stumbles out of Kara’s room groaning and covering her face. It wasn’t unlike anything she did on a normal day, but today she seemed more beaten down and groggy. When she sits on the stool at the island Kara quickly places the mug in front of her and then turns back to add cream and sugar to her own cup. “I feel awful,” Lena groans. She takes a sip of the still hot coffee and winces. “It’s too early.”

Kara laughs and leans against the island next to her.

“You think any time you wake up at is too early.” The blonde teases, it earns her a weak glare from Lena who looks way too good to be hungover.

“That’s cause it always is.” She waits for Lena to bring up the events of last night as she watches her rub her forehead fiercely. After a minute or two, Kara thinks that she should bring it up, when Lena finally says something. “Did I call someone last night?”

“No…” Kara trails off, a sense of dread filling her stomach. “Why can you not remember?”

“Nope, not a thing.” She responds. The alien feels her heart fly from her chest and crash against the wall. She takes a deep breath, thinking that maybe she can jog her friend’s memory.

[“](http://www.apple.com)You don’t remember anything from last night?” She asks, trying to see where Lena’s memory trails off.

“I remember yelling science at the tv, but I can’t remember why.” She rubs at her forehead again and just as Kara’s about to speak, to tell her what happened, Lena continues. “Did I say or do something stupid? I just have this absolutely awful feeling that I’ve done something terrible, something I definitely should not have done last night and I don’t know why?” Kara swallows, staring down at the chestnut colour of her coffee. Tears are crawling up her throat, she knows Lena must be thinking about what happened between them, even if she can’t remember it. The blonde closes her eyes and forces out a smile. If Lena is subconsciously dreading kissing her Kara won’t tell her and ruin everything between them. Lena’s her best friend and she can’t lose her, not over this. What happened was a mistake, Kara can accept that.

“No, nothing at all.”

She ignores the well of pain rising in her chest, she ignores the burning in every one of her cells and the splintering in her bones. She ignores the hole in her chest and the rip in her soul when she watches Lena leave, blissfully unaware. Kara ignores the pain, ignores the tears she’s fighting. She ignores it all and she finds herself on Alex’s doorstep, unsure of how she got there. She ignores it as she raises her fist to knock. She ignores it, she ignores it, _she ignores it_.

Until her sister’s arms are wrapping around her and it consumes her entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's that. Uhm, yeah. I have a headcanon that Lena and Cat know each other cause of Lena's parents and I hate that we've never seen them interact like it kills me cause Cat is so nice to lil kiddos and she would've been so nice to baby Lena and I thought it would be nice to have that lil bit in here so year. And I swear Kara and Lena will get together eventually, if not you can have my first born.


	7. Galas and Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara is in a lot of pain and so is Lena. Lena gets #MAD and Kara realizes she done messed up.

Kara spends most of Saturday on Alex’s couch. Her sister had immediately figured out that this had something to do with Lena, but the blonde herself hadn't given up anything. So Alex called in sick to work and cuddled with her sister on the couch. Kara spent most of the day staring at the TV, watching colours and people dance across the screen, but unable to absorb the story. When two o’clock rolls around, Alex starts to become concerned. 

“Kara, seriously, what’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me.” She asks, brushing hair out of her sister’s face. Kara just stares absently. “What happened with Lena?” When Kara doesn’t look at her and just stares down at her hands Alex becomes frantic. She’s half a second away from calling the DEO and getting them to examine her sister, secret job be damned. Or going over there and using her intense training to get the information out of Lena herself. She waits to see if Kara blinks or tries to speak before standing up. Kara looks up at her, confused by the loss of her sister. “That’s it! If you’re not going to tell me what happened I’m going over to Lena’s and I’m going to make her tell me—.”

“She kissed me.” Kara whispers. It stops the brunette mid sentence, the eldest Danvers is surprised she even heard her. 

“What?”

“She kissed me last night, she told me she thinks about kissing me a lot. And I kissed her too, she was drunk.” Kara says, staring out in front of her. She finally turns to look over at Alex and shrugs. “We said we were gonna talk about it this morning, but…but she forgot.” Kara watches as her sister slowly walks back over and sits down next to her again.

“And when you told her she freaked out?” She strokes blonde hair and Kara stares down. “Kara, that’s normal. Just give her some time. She’ll come around.” The blonde shakes her head.

“I didn’t tell her,” she whispers. Suddenly Alex is very confused. 

“Kara, sweetheart, you have to tell her.” The blonde suddenly jumps off the couch.

“I can’t, Alex! She woke up this morning and she said that she couldn’t remember last night, but she just knew she’d done something terrible. Kissing me was that terrible thing! I can’t tell her what happened, it’d get awkward and she’d feel guilty and our friendship would be ruined!” Kara’s voice breaks and she looks down. “No matter what I feel or how great kissing her was, I can’t tell her. I can’t lose her.” Kara starts crying again and Alex immediately jumps up to hug her.

“Oh, Kara,” she whispers.

“What do I do, Alex?” She asks. 

“I still think you should tell her,” the blonde shakes her head into her shoulder and the eldest Danvers softly rubs her back. “I hate seeing you hurt like this.”

“I hate hurting like this.” The blonde gently pulls back from her sister and shakes her head. “I don’t get why I can’t just _not_ have feelings for her.” Alex softly sits down next to her and laughs.

“Cause then life would be too easy,” she answers. Kara rolls her eyes and swiftly wipes the tears from her cheeks.

“It sucks cause she’s my best friend, y’know? I see her all the time! She at least has the benefit of getting drunk and forgetting, but I see her and I remember.” Kara leans back and shakes her head. “Like when she was leaving this morning I just—,” at that moment her phone let’s out a sharp ping. The blonde turns to look at the message she has received and groans loudly tossing it aside.

“Lena?”

“Yup, she wants me to come over.” She says fiddling with her fingers and staring off into space.

“Are you gonna go?” Alex asks, leaning forward and looking at her. The blonde shrugs and immediately covers her face with her hands.

“I don’t know! If I don’t go then she’ll know something’s up and if I do go it’ll be like this morning all over again.” She sighs. “I don’t want things to change, but at the same time…”

“They already have?” Kara nods again. “Did she say why she wanted you to come over?”

“No,” the blonde pauses. She looks at Alex with too wide, too hopeful eyes. “Do you think she remembers?” The eldest Danvers shrugs, gently rubbing Kara’s back. 

“If you don’t show up, you’ll never know.” So Kara runs a stray hand over her face and nods.

“I hate it when you’re right.”

Kara walks into Lena’s apartment, more nervous than she ever has been, and the first thing she hears are soft sniffles coming from the living room. A wave of panic hits her and she rushes to Lena. The brunette is facing away from her on the couch and Kara prays to Rao that she isn’t crying, or that she’s not crying because they kissed. “Lena?” She calls out sitting down next to her. The woman turns to look at her and she definitely has been crying. A part of her aches to reach out to her, to hold her and comfort her the way she would have yesterday or the day before. But something stops her. A scream that warns her away from inexplicable closeness and intimacy because her heart now knows it will never be enough. 

“Hey, Kara,” she sighs. The blonde leans into the back of the couch, clasping her hands in her lap to keep from reaching out. Her fingers itch and sting with the need to take one of Lena’s and, moments later, she can feel the same itch in her lips. Kara feels an intense desire to lean forward and kiss the tears from Lena’s face before pressing a gentle, loving kiss to her lips. But she can’t, she can’t and Lena’s still crying. Kara needs to push her feelings aside and out of her mind so that she can help Lena and get her to stop crying. 

“What’s wrong?” 

She turns to look at Kara, tears still brimming in her eyes. “I watched Toy Story 3 without you and now I hate you for making me watch the first movie.” The blonde pauses for a moment, stunned that _this_ is why she was asked to come over, and immediately starts laughing. After a moment Lena swats at her arm. “Knock it off, my life has truly been ruined by this.” Kara reaches up to brush tears from her eyes and, without thinking, opens her arms out to Lena.

“C’mere,” she says. The moment her friend is in her arms, Kara remembers why she was distinctly putting distance between the two of them. The intoxicating smell of her hair, the warmth coming from her body in waves, the skip in her heartbeat, everything makes Kara dissolve. The blonde pulls away quickly and smiles at Lena. “I’m truly sorry, but in my defence I did tell you not to watch it without me.”

“I know, but it still would have hurt anyway! He gave them all away, Kara! And the end when he just—he left! How could he?”

“Lena, he was going off to college, it was time.” The brunette rolls her eyes and Kara has to choke back laughter.

“Kara, if I were going away to college I wouldn’t just throw you away! They were his friends you know.” She can’t contain it anymore, she lets out a sharp laugh. “Kara! This isn’t funny!” And when the blonde catches sight of her trying to fight back a smile she continues to laugh.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” She says through giggles. “While I appreciate the sentiment, Lena, it’s not the same. Andy was all grown up, he didn’t need them anymore. And they were toys, toys are meant to be played with. That little girl will give them a good home where they can fulfil their duty as toys.” Kara bites down on her lip to keep from laughing again and when she catches Lena glancing down at her lips she stops breathing.

“You’re right, Kara,” the woman whispers. She remembers what the brunette had said when she was drunk, about wanting to kiss her a lot, and Kara wonders if it’s true. If she’s thinking about kissing her now, cause Kara certainly is. The blonde feels her own eyes dip down to stare at full pink lips, she wants so badly to feel the world spinning beneath her again. But she can’t and that kills her. The air around the blonde changes from electrically charged to ice cold. It fills her lungs and burns. Kara clears her throat, distracting from the situation and forcing the air to go back to normal. 

“Well, I’ve had a lot more time to come to terms with it,” the blonde says gesturing with open palms. Lena laughs and nods along. 

“Fair, but now you owe me another movie to make me feel better!” She shakes a finger at Kara and the blonde laughs.

“I’ll call Pixar tomorrow,” she teases.

“Yeah, you better.” The brunette sighs then and leans into Kara. As if it’s a reflex, Kara adjusts so that she’s holding Lena. The alien is fairly certain Manhattan heard her gulp as she realizes just how close Lena was again. It’s a lot and Kara’s mind starts screaming again. “Why is a kid’s movie so sad?”

“I, uhm, I don’t know.” She admits, shifting slightly. The brunette cuddles in closer and sighs.

“Why are you so comfortable? I swear I could fall asleep right now.” That’s when the blonde decides that this is too much, _too much_ , _too much!_ She glances at the clock hanging on the wall and jumps up quickly, jarring Lena.

“Is that the time? Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I’m supposed to have dinner with my foster mom in like an hour.” Which was, of course, a lie as Eliza was still in Midvale. She turns to look at Lena and shakes her head. “I am so sorry, but I gotta go! I’ll see you later.” There’s a knotting in Kara’s stomach as she lies to Lena that she steadfastly ignores.

“Yeah, have fun!” Lena says with a small smile. Kara tries to ignore the stinging she feels at causing the uncertainty she clearly sees on her friend’s face. Halfway to the door, the brunette calls out to her. “Kara, is everything okay? Between us?” The blonde turns and gives her a smile.

“Yeah, yeah of course it is.” The second lie causing her more discomfort than the first. “I’ll see you later.” Kara rushes back to her apartment and leans against the door. Thoughts are swimming in her head, she doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t want to lose Lena, but at the same time she’s overwhelmed with this swimming feeling inside of her. 

She can’t explain the feeling. This inexplicable pain. It’s nothing like she’d ever felt after her parents and her planet died and it wasn’t any worse or any better than it either. There were times during the day when Kara just felt sort of empty and incomplete, but then a flash of green would go across the screen or the air would smell like lavender and she’d be hit with pain all over again. She’d had a brief moment mid-morning when she wondered if just ending her friendship with Lena would make her feel any worse, but Kara couldn’t even begin to imagine her life without the brunette. Then they had been laughing and for a moment everything had seemed okay and like they could go back to normal, but then the proximity sent Kara flying and she didn’t know what to do. It’s like her heart is warring with her emotions because it hurts to be with Lena, but wherever the brunette is, is the only place Kara wants to be. She doesn’t know what to do, she just knows she’s hurting and she wants it to end. This would all be so much easier if she didn’t have feelings for her best friend.

In that moment, an idea comes to Kara, one she’s annoyed she didn’t think of earlier. If her feelings were the problem then the blonde would give herself some space to get over them. With Lena constantly around, being herself, Kara couldn’t get over her, but if the blonde were to create some distance in between them then maybe she could get to where Lena is. Maybe she could forget everything from the previous night. When she calls Alex to tell her the plan, the oldest Danvers profusely disagrees.

“Kara, are you absolutely insane?”

“No, I’m finally thinking clearly.” There’s a long groan fro the other sound of the phone.

“You know I love you, but you’re an idiot. What’s Lena gonna think when you suddenly don’t want to see her anymore? If she’s anything like you said she won’t just accept it.”

“It shouldn’t take long, a week max. And we’ll still talk and I’ll still see her, just not as _much_.”

“This is literally the worst idea anyone has had, _ever_ , in all of history, on every single planet in every single galaxy, hell even people in _the future_ think this is a horrible plan.” The blonde crosses her arms and sits down on her couch.

“You’re over exaggerating. It’ll be fine.” 

~~~

It is _not_ fine. Kara had slowly built the distance between them in the first week, she didn’t respond to texts as quickly, she made up other plans to avoid seeing Lena, until the invites and texts just stopped coming. They still occasionally saw each other in the hallway, but by the time the second week is drawing to a close, Kara is losing it. She finds herself listening in on Lena more often than she’d ever admit, making sure she’s okay. Alex had been right, distancing herself from Lena had been a horrible idea. It was doing nothing to lessen her feelings for the other woman, in fact, it seemed to amplify them. Kara found herself missing Lena like a drowning man misses fresh air, she wanted so badly to reach out, to call, to text, to knock on her door, but being with her hurt just as much as being without her.

“Kara?” The blonde snaps back to the moment after listening to Lena as she was getting ready. She looks back at Winn and shakes her head.

“Sorry, got lost there for a sec.” She answers, staring down at her feet.

“All good, it’s your roll.” He gestures and just then Kara’s phone blares to life. The blonde turns her head to the side to see her boss’ name spelled out across her screen. She lets out a soft groan and reaches for the device, shooting an apologetic glance at Winn.

“Hello,” she barely gets the simple word out before Cat speaks.

“Keira, I need you to come to this charity gala tonight. I just took a look at the guest list you’ve given me and I need you to make sure about half of these people stay away from me. I’m sending you the address and time now, I expect you have something to wear.” And with that her boss clicks off the other line and the blonde is left speechless. Her stunned silence is only amplified when the text comes through and Kara realizes she only has three hours to figure out what the hell she was going to wear.

“Kara? Kara?! Are you okay?” Winn asks, reaching out to snap his fingers in front of her. The blonde shakes her head and hastily looks up at him. 

“I have to be at a charity gala in three hours and I don’t have a dress,” she whispers staring straight ahead. Her friend waits a moment before laughing and shaking his head.

“Guess that’s the end of game night, but hey, at least I won!” Kara shoots him a glare that he feels deep in his soul and immediately his hands shoot up in surrender. “Whoa, whoa, okay, why don’t you just ask Lena? I’m sure she’d have something.” Kara bites her lip. She’s sure Lena would have something too, but there is no way asking her for a dress is how she’s going to break this deathly silence between them. 

“We’re not really speaking at the moment,” Kara mumbles. Her friend’s eyes widen as demands to know what happened fall from his lips. The blonde just shrinks back into the couch and shrugs. “I don’t know, it’s a long story Winn, we just aren’t on the same page about something.”

“For how long?”

“Like two weeks?” She shrugs, trying to act like she doesn’t know that exactly thirteen days, twelve hours, forty-five minutes, and five seconds had passed since she decided she needed “distance”.

“Well, whatever it is, you need to fix it.” He sighs and shakes his head. “You’ve been moping around the office ever since. So badly that I don’t even think Cat has called you out on it cause she’s afraid you’ll lose it.”

“I have not been moping!” The alien defends.

“Kara, every time you hear a pair of heels you look up like a lost puppy just found it’s owner only to realize that it’s not really its owner, but animal control.” The alien rolls her eyes and looks anywhere but at Winn. “Why can’t you just apologize and move on?”

“It’s more than just a small disagreement, Winn!” She defends and her friend finally backs down.

“Fine, but I still think that whatever it is you need to figure out how to fix it.” He nods to Kara’s room, where racks of her clothes lie. “I’ll go see if I can find you something to wear, you call your sister and see if she has anything.” 

The blonde nods and sits up. She knows Winn is right, and she will figure out how to fix it, eventually. 

Alex shows up an hour later, with a blue dress in hand. It’s the perfect shade to bring out Kara’s eyes and, when the blonde opens the door, she pulls her sister into a crushing hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She takes the dress from her hand and rushes back to her room to change. “Oh, Alex, this is Winn, Winn that’s my sister Alex. You both like science, enjoy!” She listens to the awkward conversation as she changes and applies her make up. 

Half an hour later she’s finally ready, thanks to a little super speed. Kara glances at herself in the mirror and considers stealing this dress from Alex. It’s backless with a haltered neck, the material is so smooth and silky against her skin that she never wants to take it off. She left her hair halfway down, leaving the other half in an intricately braided bun. Taking one final glance and a very deep breath, Kara turns and heads into the living room. “Okay, I’m ready. And Miss Grant won’t kill me for being entirely inadequate thanks to you and your dress. Thank you, Alex.” 

“Yeah, Kara no problem. Just don’t get any food on it.” She warns.

“I don’t know if that’s possible, man your sister can eat!” Winn says standing. Kara rolls her eyes and sighs. 

“It’s not my fault I’m always hungry,” she answers.

“No, but it is your fault that you never gain a pound and I hate you for it.” Alex says mockingly before smiling at her sister. Kara notices there’s no sound coming from Lena’s apartment and her head automatically turns to the apartment next to her. It seems to spark something in Alex because her sister’s entire demeanour changes. “Oh, Kara, I saw Lena in the hall when I was coming in—,” the blonde shakes her head and moves passed Alex and Winn to grab her coat and her purse.

“Honestly, Alex, I don’t wanna know. I know you both think I need to fix things with Lena, like yesterday, and you’re right, but I can’t right now. So let’s just not talk about it, okay?” Kara collects her things and stands in front of her door.

“No, but Kara,” the eldest Danvers says and the alien rolls her eyes.

“I’ll talk to you guys later.” With that she exits her apartment. If the blonde had thought to use her super hearing she would have heard Alex motion to Winn that Lena was dressed in an evening gown when she’d seen her and then ask him the probability that two of National City’s elite were attending two separate fancy events on the same night before the two of them came to the conclusion that Kara was in for quite a shock when she arrived at the gala later.

And quite the shock Kara gets. She pulls up to the venue and rushes into the building, hastily paying the cab driver. She’s already five minutes late and when she makes it to security she finally notices. “Name?” The big burly man asks.

“Kara Danvers,” she replies. “I’m Cat Grant’s assistant.” She begins to examine the room then. They’re in the lobby of a museum and there’s a relatively open concept. When the blonde’s eyes fall upon the banner declaring the gala for the development of a new medical centre her eyes stop. She scans the item and when her eyes fall on a particular logo her heart stops beating. She feels her breathing quicken and her eyes bug out. It barely registers to her as security waves her through, but her feet somehow begin moving. The next thing she knows is that someone is taking her coat and then she’s entering the main area of the event. The event run by Luthor Corp, the event that one Lena Luthor would undoubtedly attend, and there was no way Cat would avoid talking to Lena. If her boss’ mood after their lunch had been any kind of sign it would be that the meeting had gone extremely well.

Kara finds Cat with ease, she’s the one surrounded by people. Immediately Kara can tell she wants to be pulled from this conversation. “Miss Grant?” She calls from behind. The older woman turns and scans the girl.

“At last my assistant has arrived, what is it Keira?” The woman asks, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

“There’s an urgent matter back at the office.” It was a well rehearsed and well used line and it worked every single time. Her boss politely excused herself and walked away with Kara following closely behind.

“You’re late,” she mutters. The two cross over to the bar and the younger blonde nods.

“There was, uhm, a lot of traffic. And my, uh, cab got, well, stuck in it.” She stumbles over her words and Cat tilts her head.

“I don’t care why, Keira. I care that I was trapped in such a dreadful conversation for so long.” She places her order and Kara waits patiently beside her. She knows her duty as an assistant at these events; cutting in when Cat wanted to get away, filling her in on information when she blanked on who someone was, the essential stuff and, after Cat armed herself with a drink, she got straight to work.

 

Kara doesn’t even notice Lena approaching until she comments on something said to the group. The blonde immediately turns around and is floored by the woman’s appearance. Her hair is pinned back in a delicate updo, her make-up is subtle aside from her bold red lips, and then there’s her dress. The garment is a deep red and strapless, it goes down to the floor, but has a slit that crawls up Lena’s thigh. The blonde feels her mouth go dry the moment she sees her. “Lena,” Cat says with delight and Kara is instantly reminded of where they are. She moves out of the way to give Lena access to the group and trains her eyes to her feet. She watches as pleasantries are explained and tries not to stare to intensely at her friend. 

However, when the brunette looks up at her and catches her eye, Kara smiles at her. She tries to fit everything she can into that one action. She tries to say I’m sorry and I miss you and please, please, please give me another chance all in one. She tries and tries, but what she gets in response are eyes that immediately look away.

~~~

The night is quickly drawing to a close, Kara’s feet are killing her, Cat almost lost it three separate times, and they’re both quickly tiring of the event. Only one of them is allowed to actually express that exhaustion though. “I think ten is an acceptable time to leave the party, I’ll use Carter as my way out.” Cat mumbles to her as they stand on the outskirts of the room. “I’ll say goodbye to the important people and then we’ll leave. Make sure no one tries to keep us too long, Keira!” The young woman nods as they begin to make their way around the room, giving out quick goodbyes. That’s when Kara sees her for the second time that night. 

Lena is standing across the room talking to an older blonde woman. Well, talking isn’t the right word, more like quietly arguing. Kara aches to rush over there and pull her away from the woman like she pulls Cat away from the people she doesn’t want to speak to. But as Cat wraps up her current goodbye, Kara thinks of a better idea. “Miss Grant? Miss Luthor is across the room, just there.” She says, subtly gesturing to the pair standing by a group of statues. 

“Yes, she is, but she seems to be talking to Mrs. Luthor.” Kara’s eyes widen, albeit slightly, as she redirects her gaze back to Lena and her _mother_. Beside her, her boss ponders it for a moment and then shrugs. “Just send her some flowers on Monday.” It’s at that moment that Mrs. Luthor says something that has Lena reeling and then the brunette storms off. “I’m heading home, which means you should do the same. Make sure the new layouts are on my desk first thing Monday morning.”

“Yes, Miss Grant. Goodnight.” The blonde says, quickly turning her attention back to her boss. 

“Goodnight, Keira.” 

Kara watches as her boss turns to leave and she quickly heads off after Lena. She knows how sore a spot her family is to her and seeing her run off like that means something bad. The blonde finds her in a dark hallway off of the main room. She slowly walks up behind her, careful not to spook the woman. “Lena?” The brunette doesn’t move, just continues to stand facing away from her. “Are you okay?” Still nothing. “I saw you with your mom and thought you might want to talk about it?” That finally triggers a response. The woman turns sharply around to face her, a fire burning hotly in her eyes. If Kara didn’t know any better she’d think Lena was the one with heat vision.

“So now you wanna talk to me?” Her voice is filled with venom and Kara has never once seen Lena like this. “You’ve been ignoring and avoiding me for two fucking weeks, Kara! You tell me all of this stuff about being my friend and being there for me and then—and then you just left!” She yells. The blonde takes a staggering step back, mouth flopping open unsure of what to say. “Why did you do it, Kara? I mean just because we—,” the brunette pauses fuming and the blonde takes a step forward.

“Because we what?” She asks. The alien can sense the rapid beating of Lena’s heart and watches as she shakes her head and goes to move passed her. Kara reaches out to grab her wrist. “Do you remember?”

“What would it matter if I did?” The brunette spins and yanks her wrist free. “And why should I even tell you anyway? It’s not like we’re friends.” The words are meant to hurt Kara and they certainly do the trick. The blonde stumbles back stunned, for a moment, Lena looks like she’s about to reach out for her and take everything back. Instead she composes herself and she loses the fight in her eyes. “I think you should leave.” These words are softer, but still leave Kara standing there for a moment, dumbfounded and lost while the brunette quickly walks away. Lena remembered what happened that night, she remembered and she never went to Kara about it. The blonde is fuming, but she knows she can’t rush into the middle of the gala and get into a screaming match with one of the hosts. So she takes a breath, collects herself, and then Kara goes home. She goes home and she waits.

~~~

Around midnight she finally hears Lena’s apartment door close. Kara runs from her couch to the woman’s door and starts profusely banging on it until it’s opened. “Kara, I don’t have the time or the energy for this right now.”

“Well, tough.” Kara says, pushing through the door and into the apartment. The brunette sighs and slams the door behind her. “You remember what happened that night? When did it all come back? Or were you just faking it this entire time?” The brunette stands across from her, still dressed in her evening gown while Kara got to change into pyjamas. 

“Of course, I wasn’t faking it! I remembered last week.” 

“Last week!” Kara yells and shakes her head. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“You didn’t think to fill me in on everything that had happened?” She fires back. “I mean your friend gets drunk and kisses you and then forgets it I understand why you wouldn’t tell them, but I thought—,” Lena pauses and Kara waits for the words to come out, but instead the woman just shakes her head and stares into Kara’s eyes. “And when exactly was I supposed to bring it up, huh? Every single time I asked you to come over you made up fake plans and then stayed in your apartment the entire night.” Kara opens her mouth to fight back, say that that wasn’t entirely true, but Lena keeps going. “And don’t give me that look! I can hear you singing along to whatever Disney movie you’re watching.” 

“Fine, I was avoiding you, but not for the reasons that you think!” Kara yells flailing her arms out to the side. She watches as Lena, still seething with anger, stares her down and her eyes well up with tears. Kara takes a step towards her then and the brunette looks down.

“So you weren’t avoiding me because we kissed?” She whispers. The blonde is ready to scream no, but knows that it isn’t entirely true. If it weren’t for the kiss then Kara wouldn’t have been so pained by being close to Lena. She’s already lied to Lena too many times to do it again.

“Well, yes, but also no?” She offers, with a slight shrug.

“Which is it, Kara? Pick one.” 

“Fine, yes. Yes I was avoiding you because we kissed, but you have to let me explain.” Kara pleads, stepping closer to her again. The brunette shakes her head and steps back.

“No, no I don’t.” Lena’s arms wrap around herself as a form of protection and Kara so badly wants to pull her into her arms. Her voice is softer now, more sad than angry. “I think you should go.” The blonde profusely shakes her head. She won’t leave like this, she won’t let whatever it is going on between them end like _this_.

“No, no, I’m not going anywhere. Not again, I won’t screw this up again.” The blonde says, she crosses so that she’s directly in front of the woman. Lena refuses to meet her eye and when she reaches out to touch her arm, she flinches.

“Kara, please. Leave me alone,” she whispers. Everything in Kara shatters at causing this pain.

“I didn’t avoid you because you kissed me and I felt uncomfortable around you.”

“Kara,” Lena’s voice is hoarse and filled with tears. The blonde reaches down and tilts her chin up. 

“I avoided you because you kissed me and then the next morning you couldn’t remember anything except for the fact that you’s done something terrible.” Blue eyes stare intently into green, trying to get her to understand exactly what had happened. “I avoided you because the only thing I wanted was you, but you didn’t want me. I couldn’t bear seeing you every single day and knowing that no matter what I felt about you, the feelings weren’t reciprocated.” Lena’s tears have finally spilled over and Kara can feel one of her own running down her cheek. “I couldn’t stand being close to you because it was never close enough.”

“No, no, Kara, I—of course I want you.” She steps closer and they’re invading each other’s space. “I—I need you.” Kara thinks she may fall apart at those words, but somehow she remains standing. “I’ve been a wreck these passed two weeks, you keep me sane.”

“I’m sorry that I was distant and cold and—and awful. I didn’t want to be, I just thought that if I did what I’m feeling would go away and I could just be your friend. It was stupid.” Kara reaches up and brushes a stray tear from her cheek. 

“Do you want to just be friends?” Kara thinks about all of the moments when she’s looked at Lena and wanted nothing more than to stay there forever. She thinks about feeling the Earth hurtling itself around the sun the first time they kissed and she shakes her head.

“No,” she whispers. The slightest of smiles pulls at Lena’s lips and Kara can’t help but stare at them. Kara feels herself warming up from the inside out; she hadn’t seen Lena’s smile in so long that even this preview was setting a fire inside of her heart.

“You know, you never answered my question that night.” The woman whispers, reaching up to cover Kara’s hand with her own. The blonde swears she can feel a spark when their hands connect, but neither of them flinch.

“What question?” Kara asks, suddenly confused at the sudden shift.

“Have you ever thought about kissing me?” And suddenly Kara’s own smile begins to crawl onto her face.

“More than I’d like to admit.” She whispers. The blonde watches as her counterpart shivers slightly and then focuses back on her, clearing her throat.

“Well then, kiss me.” She leans forward slowly, allowing both of their eyes to flutter closed and she presses their lips together softly. At first it’s just slow and gentle, but then Kara places her free hand on Lena’s hip and pulls her in closer. The brunette responds by moving her hand to lace her fingers in Kara’s hair. The kiss becomes more desperate, needy, as if they’re clinging to each other like the world could fall apart at any second. But it’s not enough. Lena bites Kara’s bottom lip and the resulting gasp allows her entrance into her mouth. Kara lets Lena take the lead, and softly moans into her mouth. It’s another minute or so before they pull away, both gasping for air and staring intensely at each other.

When Lena finally catches her breath she softly pecks the corner of Kara’s mouth. “We should definitely talk more about this tomorrow.”

“Definitely,” Kara whispers. “And we shouldn’t rush into anything.” She adds.

“No, absolutely not. But,” the brunette says, teasing eyes flitting up to stare at Kara. “I should definitely change out of this.” The blonde tears her eyes away to stare down at Lena’s outfit, freely looking at her cleavage as well.

“I don’t know, I really like this dress on you.” She says with a smile.

The brunette leans forward and whispers in her ear. “You’ll like it even better when it’s off.” The blonde barely registers the whimper that escapes her lips while her eyes flutter closed. 

“No rushing, remember?” Kara opens her eyes, again looking down at Lena. She leans down and presses a soft kiss to her lips. 

“I know,” Lena whispers when they break apart. “But it’ll be so much easier to make out without the evening gown, don’t you think?” The alien is very quick to nod eagerly and the brunette laughs. “C’mon, let’s go to bed.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's the update. Sorry it took so long to get it up, I've been in tech/show week for those who are in the arts you know that when you're not in rehearsal you're asleep. I managed to get this written though so I hope you guys like it!!


End file.
